[newzjunkey]

But there is no diagnostic test for it in this country, so it is not yet known whether it has actually made any Americans sick.

So there is a diagnostic test somewhere, maybe Russia?

… won a grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the symptoms and develop a rapid diagnostic kit

We need to spend tax dollars making our own test. Seems wasteful.

[neverdem]

So there is a diagnostic test somewhere, maybe Russia?

Maybe they have to culture the bug in special media.

"… won a grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the symptoms and develop a rapid diagnostic kit"

We need to spend tax dollars making our own test. Seems wasteful.

Maybe not, the Russkies are not known for being very generous. Maybe their test is too expensive.

[neverdem]

From the article linked in comment# 5:

“We used improved antibody and PCRs to compare the relative frequency and clinical manifestations of B. miyamotoi infection with those of B. garinii infection in Russia and B. burgdorferi infection in the United States.”

PCR is polymerase chain reaction, a technique for making more copies of genetic material, DNA & RNA.