NYMC Faculty Publications
Studies That Report Unexpected Positive Blood Cultures for Lyme Borrelia - Are They Valid?
DOI
10.1016/j.diagmicrobio.2017.07.009
Journal Title
Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Disease
First Page
178
Last Page
181
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
November 2017
Department
Medicine
Abstract
Positive blood cultures for Lyme borrelia have been well documented in untreated patients with early Lyme disease. In this report we review the validity of three studies that reported the recovery of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato from the blood of a high proportion of patients for whom no evidence was presented, and no claim was made, that the patients had untreated early Lyme disease. In two of the studies the patients had been treated extensively with antibiotics for Lyme disease before the cultures were obtained. Critical evaluation of the three reports suggests that they are invalid. Indeed, two subsequently published studies could not reproduce the results of one of the reports. In a published analysis of another of the reports, investigators from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concluded that the cultures were likely to have been contaminated. When the biologic plausibility of recovering borrelia from blood is extremely low, the level of scientific rigor required of a study that claims a positive result should be particularly high.
Recommended Citation
Wormser, G., Shapiro, E., & Strle, F. (2017). Studies That Report Unexpected Positive Blood Cultures for Lyme Borrelia - Are They Valid?. Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Disease, 89 (3), 178-181. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.diagmicrobio.2017.07.009
