Hopefully, a simple method of direct detection will make this possible. In any case, there is a need for highly trained and dedicated specialists who treat Lyme disease. Beerman and Stokes present numerous examples in which the tests are unreliable. Of the patients in the first population based, controlled study of the long-term consequences of Lyme disease, in 1991, patient number 12, who had a negative spinal fluid, died. At autopsy, a spirochete was present in the cortex and another was exterior to a leptomeningeal vessel.
Tests can be negative.
The commonest Charcot involvement are foot, ankle, knee, hip and shoulder. Multiple joints may be affected. This sounds like I've read it somewhere before. Gastric crises are commonly known to be accompanied by negative tests. The negative serologic blood test and the negative spinal fluid do not by any means eliminate syphilis from the explanation of a gastric syndrome.