<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

Here are a couple of responses to my question regarding A) what is the
ELISA test and B) what are all the tests about, anyway?

A. ELISA (enzyme linked immunosorbant assay) is a blood test that detects
specific antigens/antibodies using enzymes that attach to the antigen and
then are read with special machines.

B. >I don't think there is a "best" test.  What there is:
>
>- skin scratch/patch tests.  They only identify IgE-mediated allergies,
>  and don't do a very good job of classifying their severity, and often
>  give results misleading in both directions (reporting allergies that
>  don't exist and failing to find those that do) but they're quick, cheap
>  and cover a lot of things at once.
>
>- cytotoxic blood tests.  Pretty crude and inaccurate, and vary all over the
>  place if you repeat them, but cover a wide range of types of reaction -
>  primarily IgG (immune responses) but maybe some funny stuff we don't
>  understand yet and which more precise tests miss.
>
>- ELISA tests.  Very selective, work for IgE, IgG, and Candida-specific IgA,
>  expensive, measure severity of reactions, but quite new and so there isn't
>  a lot of clinical experience in interpreting the results.  Maybe the wave
>  of the future.  Also work for detecting Helicobacter pylori, the bacterium
>  responsible for stomach ulcers.
>
>- radioallergosorbent tests (RAST).  Detects IgE and related allergies.
>  See Brostoff and Gamlin's _The Complete Guide to Food Allergy and
>  Intolerance_ for more information about these.  I don't think they're
>  widely used at present; since they involve the lab in handling mildly
>  radioactive materials they must be a pain in the bum from a regulatory
>  standpoint.
>
>- hair testing.  Worthless crank mumbo-jumbo.  (But hair analysis *can*
>  give useful information about nutrient deficiencies and some kinds of
>  chronic poisoning, if it's done right).


C. National Biotechnology Lab in Seattle (recently bought by some other
company, Great Smokey something-or-other, that raised its prices to the max
that Medicare would allow...) has a couple of web sites to find info on
testing and doctor referrals:
http://www.nbtl.com and http:www.gsdl.com


Another resource I found was Doris Rapp's book, IS THIS YOUR CHILD?
DISCOVERING AND TREATING UNRECOGNIZED ALLERGIES IN CHILDREN AND ADULTS,
William Morrow, NY, 1991, ISBN# 0-688-11907-7... It was pretty cheap
($12.00US), thick and full of info on something called
provocation/neutralization testing and therapy-- apparently a pretty
controversial treatment for allergies, esp. food allergies, that claims to
have great results-- I don't know about that part, but the book discusses a
huge variety of allergy symptoms, everything from hyperactivity to
bedwetting and asthma-- one main point is the brain is an organ affected by
allergy, too.  Anyway, she also gives some case hystories and tells how to
do the Single Food/Multiple Food elimination diets as well as the Practical
Rotary Diet to detect allergies.

(We're trying the Rotary with our three year old and I think he may be
reacting to corn... he's already "out" on wheat and dairy!  Oh, well.)

confused as ever,

Jeanne