Testing for Tick-Borne Disease

Testing for tick-borne diseases is variable in both availability and reliability depending on the infection. Often patients may require treatment before laboratory tests can return a confirmation of disease. For some diseases, commercial tests are not yet available or diagnosis may depend on the experience of the pathologist reviewing a blood slide or tissue sample under a microscope. For others, antibodies may never develop to levels able to be detected by current testing methods. If you realize that you have been bitten by a tick and you have saved the tick, you may want to have your tick tested.

Specialized testing laboratories offer some of the most sensitive and specific tests for many tick-borne diseases, however some diseases are still without reliable laboratory diagnostics. For many tick-borne diseases a negative test does not mean no infection. Therefore, recognition of many diseases through clinical diagnosis is critical in the process of administering timely, effective and sometimes life-saving treatment to patients.

Dr. Daniel Cameron, lead author for the 2014 ILADS peer reviewed guidelines, also provides guidance in test choice in regard to Lyme disease.

The CDC provides the Tick-borne Diseases of the United States: A Reference Manual for Health Care Providers to aid in diagnosis, testing and treatment of tick-borne diseases.

Specialized Laboratories

IGeneX Inc.  laboratory is a CLIA-certified high complexity testing lab with expertise in testing for tick-borne diseases for over 25 years. IGeneX is the leader in developing tests to accurately detect Lyme disease, Relapsing Fever, and associated tick-borne related diseases. They believe that offering trustworthy information to customers is essential to patient care and treatment. IGeneX is a COTBDAA community partner and sponsor of many COTBDAA events.

Galaxy Diagnostics laboratory that has specialized in testing for Bartonella and other Tick-Borne Diseases. They currently test for the highest number of strains of Bartonella in the country.

Medical Diagnostic Laboratories, L.L.C. (MDL) serves mainly as a reference laboratory for molecular diagnostic based testing to laboratories, hospitals and physicians worldwide. CLIA certified.

Stonybrook School of Medicine– Lyme Disease Laboratory

Coppe Laboratories is a CLIA-certified diagnostic reference laboratory that provides specialty testing with a focus on infectious agents involved in acute and chronic illness. Testing for Powassan Virus has recently begun at this lab.

Mayo Clinic Medical Laboratories– Tick-Borne Disease Testing

Division of Vector-Borne Diseases Laboratory– Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Tick Testing

Tick identification & testing labs