New $25 Blood Test Tells Every Virus A Person Has Ever Had
Scientists have created the first blood test that shows a record of a patient's history of viruses for just $25.
According to Modern Readers, this is the very first time that scientists have tapped into the body's system that allows them to see every virus a patient has ever had in their life. The system is called VirScan and works just like a test for HIV or Hepatitis C.
The test could be used to look for patterns in patients' immune system in cases where they have rare or difficult to treat conditions.
With less than a single drop of blood, VirScan can see every viral infection in a patient by searching for antibodies left behind by viruses, Infowars notes. The new blood test detects viruses by mixing blood samples with modified viruses to find which would be attacked by antibodies.
VirScan could eventually explain what triggers certain cancers and autoimmune diseases, according to The Washington Post.
"The approach is clever and a technological tour de force," said Ian Lipkin, a professor of epidemiology and director of the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University. "It has the potential to reveal viruses people have encountered recently or many years earlier ... Thus, this is a powerful new research tool."
Lipkin was not involved in the creation of VirScan.
Scientists tested 569 people using VirScan in the U.S., South Africa, Peru and Thailand and found that the average person had been exposed to at least 10 of the 206 viruses.
"Many of those [people] have probably been infected with many different strains of the same virus," said Stephen Elledge, a professor of genetics and medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School and leading developer of VirScan.
"You could be infected with many strains of rhinovirus over the course of your life, for instance, and it would show up as one hit," Elledge added.
Maybe one day patients will get the VirScan testing as part of their regular checkups.
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