The tick-borne disease panel allows you to detect several of the most common diseases transmitted by ticks from a single blood sample. The tests included in the panel help the doctor to diagnose the patient quickly, and thus - start the treatment early. Check what the tick-borne disease panel is and what diseases it can detect.
The tick-borne disease panelis a test that allows you to find out the presence of several pathogens responsible for diseases transmitted by ticks at the same time.There are two types of panels-basicthat allows you to detect the most common tick-borne diseases,and the fullthat is performed towards other, rarer tick-borne diseases.
The tick-borne disease panel is very practical, becausetick-borne diseases often coexist , and undetected (and thus improperly treated) co-infections make it difficult or even impossible to treat the underlying tick-borne disease (usually Lyme disease).
Tick-borne diseases panel - indications
The tick-borne disease panel should be performed primarily by people bitten by a tick, flea, louse, as well as scratched or bitten by a cat or dog.
Tests are most often performed on a blood sample, although the best material for research is a biopsy of skin lesions. You can also test a sample of body fluids, such as urine or cerebrospinal fluid.
How to outsmart ticks?
Tick-borne diseases panel - what diseases can it detect?
Basic tick-borne disease panelare blood tests for the four most common tick-borne pathogens:
- Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lata- is the name of three pathogenic species of bacteria of the genusBorrelia , causing Lyme disease, i.e.B . burgdorferi sensu stricto ,B. GariniiandB. afzelii
- Babesia divergens- this is the pathogen causing babesiosis
- Bartonella Henselae- this is the bacteria responsible for bartonellosis
- Anaplasma phagocytophilum , which causes anaplasmosis, orFlaviviridae , which is responsible fortick-borne encephalitis (depends on the laboratory)
The full tick-borne disease panel detects bacteria such asmycoplasmapneumoniae(this is the bacteria causing mycoplasmosis) andToxoplasmagondii(it is the protozoan causing toxoplasmosis ).
The test can be performed with the Real-Time PCR method, which consists in detecting the DNA of the bacteria responsible for the disease. Thanks to this, it allows you to diagnose the infection within several hours of the infection.The price is about PLN 500.
Other laboratories offer serological tests, i.e. detection of IgG and IgM antibodies against bacteria responsible for specific tick-borne diseases. However, such a test can only be performed about 6 weeks after the tick bite.