• Lyme disease is an illness caused by the bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi, which can be spread through the bite of certain types of ticks. In B.C., less than one per cent of the more than 4,600 ticks tested carry this bacterium, and cases of Lyme disease here remain rare.
• The BC Centre for Disease Control monitors the province for Lyme disease, and provides public alerts and information to physicians on the risks, signs, and symptoms of the disease. It also offers state–of–the–art testing to assist doctors and patients with accurate diagnosis.
• Any British Columbian concerned about symptoms or exposure to Lyme disease can access diagnostic tests, publicly covered under the Medical Services Plan.
• Lyme disease should be diagnosed through a clinical evaluation of the patient's symptoms and risk of exposure to infected ticks. A blood test may also be administered (supported by laboratory testing by the BC Centre for Disease Control), but this should not be interpreted in the absence of a clinical diagnosis.
• The BC Centre for Disease Control laboratory recommends a two-tiered approach to Lyme disease testing. First, blood samples are screened with a sensitive Enzyme Immunoassay (EIA) test. Then, positive or suspicious results must be confirmed with a highly specific Western blot test before Lyme disease is positively identified. (This approach is also recommended by the Association of State and Territorial Public Health Laboratory Directors and the US Center for Disease Control.)
• The BC Centre for Disease Control cautions against the use of invalidated tests for Lyme disease or interpreting results without appropriate guidelines, as this can lead to a high number of false–positive tests. For example, some private labs in the U.S. use a different standard of interpretation, and thus return a false–positive result on almost every test.
• A false–positive test, and hence an inaccurate diagnosis of Lyme disease, can be harmful because:
• Patients and doctors stop looking for other remediable causes or approaches to symptoms;
• Inappropriate antibiotic therapy for misdiagnosed Lyme disease can and has killed patients in the prime of their lives;
• People suffering from treatable but debilitating conditions (such as MS or Parkinson’s disease) do not receive appropriate therapy which can lead to unnecessary worsening of their condition.
• On average, B.C. has five to seven cases of Lyme disease diagnosed from among the 400 to 600 reports of people being bitten by ticks each year. This rate of positive tests is consistent with the low levels of the bacterium found in ticks in B.C.

More information:
BCCDC Lyme disease (tick bites)
 
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Contact:

Ministry of Health
Communications Office
(250) 952–1887