Why can’t a single blood test show you all the information you need instead of having to take multiple tests for different markers?
In: Biology
One reason is batch testing.
The testers take 10 different vials of blood from 10 different people, pour them all in together and test that. It’s a lot more efficient that testing each vial independently.
Most of the time, the mixed batch comes out fully negative for whatever they’re testing (HIV for example). If the whole batch is HIV-negative, then all 10 individuals are HIV-negative, and we only had to run 1 test instead of 10, a 90% time savings.
But if the whole batch tests positive, then you’ll need a second vial of all those blood samples to test individually. And even then, you only had to run 1 extra test overall.
Edit: Apparently this is more of a Blood Bank process (which is where I heard about it), and less of a “figuring out if the patient has lupus” process.
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