The Polymerase Chain Reaction Assay for Borrelia burgdorferi in the Diagnosis of Lyme Disease

increasing worship of the instrument for its own sake sometimes leads to enslavement by it (1). L y m e arthritis was first described in 1975 (2), and as the recognition of the clinical spectrum of infection with Borrelia burgdorferi increased, so did the diagnostic tests for what is now called Lyme disease (3). The desire for a widely available, quick, inexpensive, sensi-tive, and reliable test has not yet been realized. Even so, the diagnosis of Lyme disease is becoming more test-oriented, and a positive test result, even in the absence of clinical findings suggesting Lyme disease, is mistakenly thought to be sufficient to make the diagno-sis (4). Serologic testing, most commonly by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and immunoblot (Western blot), is widely available, but the antigeni