On 4/2 "Howard" asked about Bowen Test Results Interpretation-----

Howard - I recently taped our appointment with a LLMD (and then
transcribed). This is what he had to say about the Bowen test:


Bowen - because I'm symptomatic but test negative on Igenex W. Blot, he
suggested I consider it. Critics suggest Bowen 'always' gets a positive
result but he believes the pre-selected population is a factor. Those sent
to Bowen are symptomatic to begin with! Also, there is the possibility that
we have a borrelia pandemic and huge numbers of people have been exposed.

In any event, because I'm only mildly symptomatic, I might test
Bowen-positive with a low titer (I gathered titer indicates strength of the
antibody?). Some people who are quite sick, like MS, long-term CFS, ALS,
might have a high titer. The highest titer dilution they measure is 128/1.
That means it still shows positive if one drop of blood is diluted with 128
drops of water. The doc (and other experts) have sent in large numbers of
samples and people who are quite sick are either 1/64 or 1/128. He thinks
if they diluted it two more dilutions to 256 and 512 and it would splay out
the concentration. He says 1/32 and 1/16 are less sick but definitely carry
it. His wife was 1/32 and she had a self-limiting CFS episode two or three
years ago. She took antibiotics so she wouldn't give it back to him if I
got well. So, the lower titer is valuable. They also do it in babesia.

A Bowen test is often unnecessary (because other tests show positive) but it
can be valuable in mild symptomatic cases. The information in those cases
is useful because it's a matter of record to justify treatment. If one came
back with a 1/64 titer or higher, we'd know they picked up something Igenex
hadn't been able to. In that case, they'd keep it in your files and see how
it sorts out as we see more patients.

Good luck. Hope this helps a little....some of it is still vague to me but
that's why I take it down almost word for word.

Elaine





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