Low CD57 is associated with Lyme disease, but it can also be associated with Mycoplasma infections without Lyme Borrelia. So it is not necessarily diagnostic for Lyme.
If you are referring to “indeterminate” bands on Western blots, this could be a function of the technique—such bands could be positive at different antibody concentrations, longer incubations at higher temperatures, etc. or they could be negative when conditions are changed. Testing labs use a standard set of conditions when performing Lyme Western blots, and these conditions, which may be unique to that particular lab, are generally a compromise so that most Borrelia bands will show up positive if they are truly positive and negative if they are truly negative. However, some bands may not be tested under optimal conditions, resulting in an indeterminate result that cannot be scored as positive or negative.
I have no idea. There could be another infection involved. Low CD57 counts are usually associated with a systemic infection, but the type of infection need not be of a specific type. Usually cell wall deficient bacteria can trigger this, but there are many, many types of cell wall deficient bacteria that cause systemic infections.
I have been having CD57 tests through two lab corp labs on the same day due to inconstancies
I have been treated for Lyme / Babesia with oral antibiotics for over a year. Originally my CD57 was at 19 and didn't move for months - then after an IV that I had for 6 months the CD57 went to 57, I had to have the line pulled due to a dressing reaction - then CD57 went back to 19. had a new line and it went back up to 46 & 67.
I have been off of all antibiotics for 8 weeks now due to elevated liver enzymes and had a recheck of my CD57 and it went back down to 36 & 19 again I have the blood draw at two labs to try to get a better idea of what is going on. What do you think is happening?