eli5: how do medical labs find out which bacteria or viruses are in a sample if they do not know what to look for?

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So I do not mean a covid test where it is clear what pathogen to look for. More like:
“Hey lab, here is a sample of a patient that feels bad. Please find out what pathogen is inside of it.”

How does it work? And how does it work so fast that they usually return the results within 1 or 2 days?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

They do not know what looking for, but they know what to do not looking for. ELI5 example, i put in front of you a basket of apples, and ask you. OP theres something wrong inside here, you start digging inside apples, and you find a banana.

Explanation, they know what general or common bacteria and viruses are inside a body (the basket of apple), and not knowing what looking for, they start searching for something different or unusual.

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