Lyme disease (borrelia burgdorferi) IgM antibodies

Determination of the amount of Immunoglobulin M antibodies for Lyme Disease in the blood using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method

Borreliosis | Lyme disease is an infectious disease caused by borrelia bacteria. The disease is transmitted to humans by ticks that have previously bitten wild animals carrying borrelia bacteria. Most often, a person is infected with Lyme disease when a tick remains attached for 24 hours or more.
Once infected, the human body produces antibodies against Lyme disease. In the early stage of the disease, the body produces IgM class antibodies, and later begins to produce IgG class antibodies.
The quantity of these immunoglobulin G and M class antibodies is determined by performing blood tests for Lyme disease using the ELISA method.

Each person's body reacts individually to the infectious disease and starts producing antibodies at different times. Therefore, it is recommended to perform blood tests for Lyme disease at least 2 weeks after a tick bite. A Borreliosis IgM blood test should be performed within 2 - 6 weeks after the tick bite, although infectious disease specialists recommend testing for both classes of antibodies to evaluate their ratio.
The IgG antibody blood test for Lyme Disease is used in the later stages of disease diagnosis and during treatment.

The IgM blood test for Lyme Disease is performed from blood serum. The blood sample is taken into tubes with a red or yellow cap. The blood sample is centrifuged to obtain serum. The serum is stable at 4 degrees temperature for up to 7 days. Tests can be performed from frozen blood serum for several months.

The norms for the Lyme Disease IgM blood test depend on the analyzer used in the laboratory, so different laboratories may have different norms.