7Early Disseminated Lyme Disease Diagnosis
A doctor may diagnose Lyme disease by doing a blood test. The main goal is to look for titers, the level of antibodies that the body produces in response to the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi. One of the most common diagnostic tests for Lyme disease is the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay or ELISA. Another antibody test called the Western blot test was once used to verify the ELISA results. It is currently recommended by health officials to use a second ELISA test to verify Lyme disease. In most cases, the antibodies may take a few weeks to appear in the blood. If the doctor thinks that Lyme disease has spread to other parts of the body and progressed into the early disseminated stage, some others can be done, such as an MRI, a spinal tap, an echocardiogram, or an electrocardiogram. [8]
