Less then 20 percent of specimens submitted for Lyme disease testing come back positive for the disease, according to a study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases.
Researchers asked large commercial labs in the U.S. to report the type and volume of Lyme disease testing conducted in 2008, along with the percent of positive tests.
Seven labs performed about 3.4 million Lyme disease tests at an estimated cost of $492 million. Of those tests, an estimated frequency of infection ranged between 10 percent and 18.5 percent.
"These results highlight the importance of considering clinical and exposure history when interpreting laboratory results for diagnostic and surveillance purposes," the study authors concluded.
"Before testing a patient for Lyme disease, it is important to consider the likelihood that a patient is infected. If you decide there is a reasonable chance that your patient has Lyme disease, serologic testing may be helpful," lead author Alison Hinckley, PhD, from the CDC's Division of Vector-Borne Diseases, told Medscape Medical News.
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