Symptoms
& History
Physical
Findings
Stop
& Think
Lab
and X-Ray
Differential
Diagnosis
The
Disease
Treatment
Conclusions
Quiz
& Evaluation |
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As
with all medicine, diagnosis rests with clinical suspicion. History
and physical are the critical elements.
The laboratory may be helpful
in confirming Lyme disease, but getting a good history is by far
most important.
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IgG anti-Borrelia antibodies
can help, but won't be detectable for 4 to 6 weeks.
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Enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent
assay (ELISA) is available but it is not well standardized. False
positives are not uncommon. Must be confirmed by Western Blot.
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Cultures are impractical.
Difficult and must biopsy the skin lesion. Procedure is not widely available.
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Hey, what do you know, we're
back to a good history and physical.
Great, so what do we do
about treatment?
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