Blood screening tests for diseases and conditions such as HIV, pregnancy, blood type, infections, and cancer. Patients visit a doctor’s office or hospital to have blood drawn, and results can be affected by contaminated utensils. Second tests are often used for accuracy.
A blood screening is a medical process in which blood is scanned to test for a particular disease or condition. While this procedure can be done for a variety of reasons, the most common ones include human immunodeficiency (HIV) screening, pregnancy screening, and blood type screening. You may also need blood screening to check for things like general infections and cancer. Additionally, all blood is thoroughly screened for serious diseases such as HIV when donated to a blood bank.
Before the screening takes place, the patient is usually required to visit a doctor’s office or hospital to have blood drawn. This is done by inserting a needle into the patient’s arm, usually in the crook of the elbow. The needle is attached to a vial that is used to collect blood and can be removed if more than one vial is needed to perform multiple screenings. Most of the time, the patient only needs to insert the needle once.
An HIV blood screen is used to detect the presence of the virus that causes AIDS. HIV screenings are usually quite accurate, although it can take three months to a year after exposure before the virus can be detected in some individuals. Those who test positive will likely be screened a second time to ensure the results are accurate. If a test comes back positive, the patient will be notified and treatment can begin.
There are also different types of screenings that can be done to detect fetal abnormalities during pregnancy, as well as to check for problems in the mother. Some chemicals or hormones can be released into the blood if the fetus has certain defects. Mothers can also have a blood test to check the levels of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) in her blood and her blood type to make sure it matches that of her baby if she is Rh negative.
Conditions such as infections and cancer can also be initially detected through a blood screen. If there is an infection throughout the body, the blood is likely to show high levels of white blood cells. These are the body’s first line of defense against invading bacteria and viruses and can be found in large numbers when an infection has spread throughout the body. Cancer can also lead to a sharp rise or decline, mainly in cancers affecting the blood, bone marrow or lymph nodes.
In some rare cases, a blood test can be affected by contaminated utensils and the results can be inaccurate. For this reason, second blood tests along with other screening tools will likely be used if a disease or condition is found during the initial test. Most blood tests can only test for one thing at a time. This means that conditions such as HIV will not be detected during routine blood tests.
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