blotting out abx from serum

[Guest guest]

Has anybody read this?

I keep thinking my serologies would have a better chance of being positive if they could be done after I'm off abx for a while but I'm too sick to go off abx. The article below describes this technique where abx are sort of blotted out from your serum so that they can better see the antibodies.

Does anybody know whether this technique is used any place?

Nelly

TITLE: Detection of borreliacidal antibodies in Lyme borreliosis patient sera containing antimicrobial agents.

AUTHORS: Jobe DA; Rawal N; Schell RF; Callister SM

AUTHOR AFFILIATION: Microbiology Research Laboratory, Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center, La Crosse, Wisconsin 54601, USA.

SOURCE: Clin Diagn Lab Immunol 1999 Nov;6(6):930-3

CITATION IDS: PMID: 10548588 UI: 20018406

ABSTRACT:

The borreliacidal-antibody test has been used for the serological detection and confirmation of Lyme borreliosis. However, the presence of antimicrobial agents in serum can confound the accurate detection of borreliacidal antibodies. In this study, we developed a Bacillus subtilis agar diffusion bioassay to detect small concentrations of antimicrobial agents in serum. We also used XAD-16, a nonionic polymeric resin, to adsorb and remove high concentrations of amoxicillin, cefotaxime, ceftriaxone, cefuroxime, doxycycline, and erythromycin without significantly affecting even small concentrations of immunoglobulin M (IgM) or IgG borreliacidal antibodies. High concentrations of penicillin could also be removed by adding 1 U of penicillinase without significantly influencing the levels of borreliacidal antibodies. These simple procedures greatly enhance the clinical utility of the

borreliacidal-antibody test.