Howdy All,

I received my saliva secretor results back a few weeks ago and have been concerned by the fact that I am a "non-secretor"due to increased health risks. I started wondering how accurate the results were since the saliva had to go through the mail and wasn't on ice. I've been snooping around on the Internet and found some issues in other newsgroups about how inaccurate the saliva testing has been. Seems that some non-secretor folks are getting the blood test for the Lewis type (D'Adamo says this is one way to go) and are getting secretor results instead.

One discussion group in particular www.owendot.com seems to have some people who have gone from trusting the saliva test to doubting it and having multiple blood tests instead. I guess the deal with getting the blood test sent to two different labs surrounds issues of lab accuracy which should be taken into account. There were discussions back in Sept. 2001 and in March 2003 on that newsgroup that really got me thinking. Seems that most of the saliva tests show "non-secretor" status and the blood test show "secretor" status. I'm wondering if the saliva test is not sensitive enough and if too many steps have been cut out of the process for such mass marketing. I have read what D'Adamo says about the test, but things aren't adding up right. I've been reading about how professional crime labs do the salvia test and it seems like a difficult test to do correctly. Saliva is very unstable and should be freeze dried and tested in a way that is more rigorous than what the Great Smokies lab does. I've read that salivary enzymes and bacteria present in human saliva can skew the test either way.

I'm really thinking about getting the blood test to see if I too have conflicting results. I feel like being a non-secretor poses many more health risks and I need to know if this really is my status. Anyone know of decent labs in western Oregon? I have heard that the Red Cross is excellent at producing accurate results, but I'm not sure if they do this sort of thing for everyday people. Any one out there have the Lewis Type blood test to verify the results of the saliva test? I'm just curious to find out if people are getting the saliva result confirmed. Please let me know--I'm very curious.

Lydia (O+, non-secretor--I guess)