A method of detecting Lyme disease, comprising: a method of nucleic acid extraction comprising: a) contacting a sample of whole blood with beads, a proteinase, and an anionic surfactant to generate a treated sample; b) homogenizing said treated sample to generate a cell lysate; c) centrifuging said cell lysate comprising a supernatant; d) separating said supernatant from said cell lysate; e) adding magnetic particles and lysis buffer to said supernatant to generate a magnetic-particle sample, wherein said magnetic particles are configured to bind nucleic acid molecules; f) washing said magnetic-particle sample with a wash buffer; g) treating said magnetic-particle sample in order to generate a dried magnetic bead sample; and h) treating said dried magnetic bead sample with an elution buffer such that a purified nucleic acid sample is generated that comprises purified nucleic acid; and a nested isothermal amplification method comprising: a) contacting the purified nucleic acid sample with a buffer, dNTPs, and a plurality of nested PCR primer pairs configured to amplify at least part of at least one nucleic acid sequence from Borrelia burgdorferi; b) incubating said purified nucleic acid sample with a DNA polymerase under isothermal conditions such that amplified nucleic acid is generated; c) inactivating said DNA polymerase; and d) subjecting said amplified nucleic acid to mass spectrometry to identify Borrelia burgdorferi in the sample. a method of nucleic acid extraction comprising: a) contacting a sample of whole blood with beads, a proteinase, and an anionic surfactant to generate a treated sample; b) homogenizing said treated sample to generate a cell lysate; c) centrifuging said cell lysate comprising a supernatant; d) separating said supernatant from said cell lysate; e) adding magnetic particles and lysis buffer to said supernatant to generate a magnetic-particle sample, wherein said magnetic particles are configured to bind nucleic acid molecules; f) washing said magnetic-particle sample with a wash buffer; g) treating said magnetic-particle sample in order to generate a dried magnetic bead sample; and h) treating said dried magnetic bead sample with an elution buffer such that a purified nucleic acid sample is generated that comprises purified nucleic acid; and a) contacting a sample of whole blood with beads, a proteinase, and an anionic surfactant to generate a treated sample; b) homogenizing said treated sample to generate a cell lysate; c) centrifuging said cell lysate comprising a supernatant; d) separating said supernatant from said cell lysate; e) adding magnetic particles and lysis buffer to said supernatant to generate a magnetic-particle sample, wherein said magnetic particles are configured to bind nucleic acid molecules; f) washing said magnetic-particle sample with a wash buffer; g) treating said magnetic-particle sample in order to generate a dried magnetic bead sample; and h) treating said dried magnetic bead sample with an elution buffer such that a purified nucleic acid sample is generated that comprises purified nucleic acid; and a nested isothermal amplification method comprising: a) contacting the purified nucleic acid sample with a buffer, dNTPs, and a plurality of nested PCR primer pairs configured to amplify at least part of at least one nucleic acid sequence from Borrelia burgdorferi; b) incubating said purified nucleic acid sample with a DNA polymerase under isothermal conditions such that amplified nucleic acid is generated; c) inactivating said DNA polymerase; and d) subjecting said amplified nucleic acid to mass spectrometry to identify Borrelia burgdorferi in the sample. a) contacting the purified nucleic acid sample with a buffer, dNTPs, and a plurality of nested PCR primer pairs configured to amplify at least part of at least one nucleic acid sequence from Borrelia burgdorferi; b) incubating said purified nucleic acid sample with a DNA polymerase under isothermal conditions such that amplified nucleic acid is generated; c) inactivating said DNA polymerase; and d) subjecting said amplified nucleic acid to mass spectrometry to identify Borrelia burgdorferi in the sample.