Diagnostic testing is done for a variety of reasons. Its
most important role is to diagnose a disorder. Other reasons will include
evaluation of the disease’s severity and monitoring of the treatment’s
response.
It can also be used for more than one purpose. A blood test,
for instance, can be done to know your RBC count. It’ll be repeated after
you’ve undergone treatment. This is done so your doctor will know as to whether
or not the treatment is effective.
What fluids are analyzed?
The most commonly used fluids are the following:
- Blood
- Urine
- CSF
- Synovial fluid
Sometimes, your sweat, saliva and other fluids from your
digestive tract are extracted to be analyzed. There are times when diagnostic
testing must only be done when the disorder is present.
Ebola virus diagnostic testing
There’s a new diagnostic testing for Ebola virus. It’s been
made by IES Diagnostic, Inc. This is surely a great turning point to help us
fight against Ebola. Unlike the old method, this new screening can be used as
early as 24 hours after the patient has made contact with someone suffering
from this condition. This is a great improvement since the old method may take
days to weeks before the virus is detected.
The new diagnostic testing is known as Rapid Ebola
Pre-Symptom test. Within one day of exposure, the virus can be detected.
Researchers are now anticipating that there will be more tests to follow that
can detect the virus within a few hours of infection.
How it detects the virus?
It utilizes a drop of blood to detect, not the virus, but
the interferons being produced right after infected with the virus. These
interferons are known as signature. They’re produced only when the patient’s
cells are infected. The test will find that signature before the virus itself
can be identified.
As previously mentioned, other diagnostic tests are only
effective when the virus has already replicated to a certain level that the
person is already contagious.
Because of this development, we can now avoid lengthy procedures
and unnecessary quarantine. The old method has limited sensitivity that may
result in giving out false negative. This means that a person without the virus
will still be quarantined, which may cause unintentional spread of this deadly
disease while it decreases chances of survival.
The new diagnostic test for Ebola virus, on other hand, can
detect the effects of the virus as early as possible, thereby, reducing chances
of virus being spread.
Risks and results
Every diagnostic testing entails some risks. An injury may
occur during the test. You may also need to undergo further testing, i.e. if
the result turned out to be abnormal. This means that you need to pay more for
it.
This is one of the reasons many doctors will only request
tests if they deemed the examination to be necessary in helping them diagnose a
disease.
As regards to the
latest diagnostic testing for Ebola virus, it’s not yet available in the
Philippines. It’s also too early to say if this test could indeed help in
diagnosing the virus.
0 comments:
Post a Comment