• Question: How do you test for diseases/illnesses in blood?

    Asked by to Del, Catherine on 20 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Catherine Mansfield

      Catherine Mansfield answered on 20 Mar 2014:


      A sample of blood would be taken from a vein and sent to a lab. There are several different tests that can be done on the blood to check for diseases. Tests are done to check the levels of certain proteins or hormones in the blood that are known to change with certain diseases. Also, the number of ‘white blood cells’ are counted, these are the immune cells so if there are a high number it may mean that there is an infection.

    • Photo: Adelle Thrower

      Adelle Thrower answered on 20 Mar 2014:


      Scientists tend to normal the normal levels of things in the blood- to determine an illness the molecule they are testing would be out of what we consider “normal” range.
      for example prostate specific antigen (PSA) is found in mens blood. in prostate cancer this is often elivated in the blood. machines calculate the amount. i myself am not a blood scientist so im not really smart on this subject….hope this helps! 🙂

Comments