A new test for Lyme disease showed promise in a study out of UCLA. The test gives much more accurate and rapid results than current tests, which take up to two weeks to process and fail to detect roughly 70% of infections. The new test, still in the development stage, produces a result in 20 minutes and is 95% accurate. Specifically, out of every 100 actual infections, it identifies 95 of them on average. The technology is 100% accurate at reading out negative results, meaning that it never indicates the presence of lyme disease when there is actually no trace of the bacteria (in other words, a false negative). It is also an at-home test, as opposed to existing options which can only be processed in a laboratory.
The researchers hope this technology can lead to more timely treatment of lyme, which usually treatable if a diagnosis is made early enough. Antibiotics can prevent long-term symptoms in up to 90% of patients with the early stages of lyme disease. Unfortunately, the disease is often not identified soon enough to prevent more severe or long-term symptoms.
“A lot of folks find out they have Lyme disease well after the point at which they could have been treated very easily,” explained researcher Dino Di Carlo, Professor of Engineering and Medicine UCLA’s Samueli School of Engineering. “If we can measure rapidly, in a way that’s cost-effective and not a burden to the health system and the patient, then testing can be done more routine”.
The test is likely a few years away from being viable for commercial use, the researchers emphasized.
Full Story: HealthDay
