Diagnosis and Treatments for Lyme Disease

6. The Need for More Accurate Lyme Disease Testing

One of the reasons for delayed diagnosis is the lack of a highly reliable test. While doctors can use many lab tests to diagnose other bacterial infections, this is not the case with the bacteria that cause Lyme disease. The type of blood cultures used for other bacteria can return results in a few days, but for the bacteria that cause Lyme disease, they can take as long as 12 weeks to produce a result, which is not quick enough to be helpful for treatment.

Skin biopsy of the bullseye rash is more reliable, but not everyone gets this rash, and it is an invasive step for patients who are showing clear signs of Lyme disease and would not require lab confirmation anyway. Researchers are currently trying to develop new detection methods.