thecraftychemist:

mothernaturenetwork:

A drop of blood reveals every virus you’ve ever had
New $25 test can scan for past exposure to more than than 1,000 strains of viruses at one time.

This is a real thing?

All you need is one drop of blood and $25 and you can* get a detailed breakdown of every virus
you have ever had. The new test, which was revealed this week*, is being
hailed as an important new research tool for helping doctors understand
diseases.

The study behind the test, which was published in the journal Science,
showed how researchers were able to use just a drop of blood to
detect past exposure to more than 1,000 strains of viruses from 206
species — that’s pretty much all of the viruses that have ever been
known to infect a human.

The test works by detecting antibodies —
specific proteins in the blood that the body produces to fight off a
specific virus. Antibodies can linger in the blood for decades after the
virus has been cleared from the body. This is what makes it possible
for researchers to look at one drop of blood and determine not only
which viruses the body is fighting now, but also which viruses have ever
infected that person.

Researchers hope to use the information to better track diseases in
various parts of the world or in the young versus the old. It could
also be used to understand the link between a previous infection with a
virus and the future development of chronic diseases or cancer.

For instance, health researchers have theorized that viruses contribute to the development of diseases such as Type 1 diabetes or multiple sclerosis.
Up until now, they have been testing viruses one at a time to prove or
disprove this theory. But this new test allows researchers to look at
all viruses in an attempt to pinpoint a connection.

*‘It is a real thing - but it’s not necessarily $25 per test and it’s not being revealed this week - just the paper it’s going to be based on. Read below:

According to some rough calculations done by one of the study’s
researchers, Tomasz Kula, the test could cost as little as $US25 a pop. 

That’s what Harvard genetics professor Stephen Elledge envisions for the
doctors’ offices of the not-too-distant future, and his new study outlines just how to make it happen.

Moreover, the immune system takes a while to make antibodies, so you
might not find a strong antibody response in the early stages of an
infection. The test would also not be able to distinguish between
antibodies made as a result of an infection and those triggered by a
vaccine.

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