Why don't the "bugs" show up in blood?

Blood has a high amount of oxygen which spirochetes do not do well in. Partially why they love other areas of the body!

And the best way to see them is through dark field microscopy, or (I read) a microscope with a 1000x or more magnification. Spirochetes are really tiny...

happyjo is right,
powerful microscope, and a trained eye
Spirochetes are in the blood as well
as tissues, bones, skin, eyes,
They are Everywhere in the body

No, the spirochetes don't stay in the blood. They appear there as soon as you are infected, but their first order of business is to get out of the blood as a sort of self protection mechanism. They "understand" that they can't stay in the blood stream where they can be killed, so they migrate to the tissues, organs, bones of the body.

They move into the blood stream to reproduce every 4 - 6 weeks which is why we feel 'cycles' of symptoms in those time periods - not everyone, but many do.

Not only are the bacteria extremely small, but they are usually not in large quantities in the blood, so they have to be "cultured" many times just to have enough to see. Dark Field microscopy seems to have the ability to see them when other microscopes can't - but I would venture a guess that it has limited abilities as well.

The typical testing (ELISA & Western Blot) are not looking for the bacteria, but the body's response to the bacteria - antibodies. The problem with this is that these bacteria (& Bartonella as well) can inhibit (prevent) the immune system from 'seeing' the bacteria. So the testing is of limited value to many because the longer you go from getting infected until testing, the less chance the person has of getting a positive test result.

This is why even the CDC says on it's own Lyme page that:
"Lyme disease is diagnosed based on symptoms, physical findings (e.g., rash), and the possibility of exposure to infected ticks; laboratory testing is helpful if used correctly and performed with validated methods." (about the only part they get right!!)
www.cdc.gov/lyme/

Dark field microscopes are incredibly expensive if I understand correctly. And since it's not needed for hardly any other bacteria, no one wants to spend the money when they aren't convinced of the scope of the infection rate!

So does anyone know if the IgeneX testing uses the dark field microscope for their testing or look for the bacteria...instead of antibodies?

Thanks.

Even if you had a dark field microscope it would not be enough to identify it as borrelia. There are other spirochetes that look like lyme also - further testing would be required. Partially why the FDA does not approve it for a test.

@KK igenex does a variety of testing, not sure if they do microscopy but same issue that wouldn't be enough for definitive diagnosis on that alone. PCR test for genomic/plasmid borrelia DNA is another option that does not test for antibodies and Igenex does offer that.

I had the igenex PCR test, but didn't really realise until recently! The result was genomic negative and plasmid positive. If anyone could tell me what that actually means, I'd be really grateful! :-/

According to my rhuematologist....they r only in blood in begining stages, then drill into tissue (I think that's part of why people get so little bands on the western blott - detoxing and killing / herxing brings the pieces out into blood till body excretes it. (I always got more band right after a laser treatment or something)

Utahgal-

In the simplistic terms-

Think of Lyme bacteria as a bank robber hitting the freeway after a hold up. Its the quickest way to gain millage, but also the easiest way to be found by the cops (your immune cells). So its best to haul and then get off onto a side road less traveled.

Your immune system cells mostly float around in your blood. So the bacteria wants to get out of the blood to white tissue, collegian, nerves, gray matter, to be home free.

The Advanced Labs Lyme Culture test tries to culture (grow) the bacteria from your blood so its detectable. This test has nothing to do with anti-bodies or any other "forensic" lyme markers. It looks for the bacteria itself. I heard that its most accurate when used with body fluid from a spinal tap. But a spinal tap is like 3-5K maybe (not sure).

Bump

Wow! That was great! Thanks, Trav!