Why is it so hard to detect things like mycoplasma, borrelia, bartonella after it has been in your body for many months or years?

Difficult detection: These organisms tend to life inside your cells and not in your blood stream. That is why they are difficult to detect and the tests are often false negatives. Specialized laboratory techniques are often required to confirm the diagnosis.

Hard to detect: All 3 can "hide" in the body. Bartonella can be found in red blood cells & d endothelial cells. Mycoplasma can fuse with the membrane of a host cell . Borrelia can hide intracellularly in many parts of the body. Tests: Bartonella FISH, Bartonella IFA, Bartonella PCR, Bartonella multi- species western blot.Mycoplasma tests: enzyme immunoassay (EIA) testing, Multiplex real-time PCR & cultures.