In 1896, French physician and bacteriologist Georges Fernand Isidore Widal introduced a blood test for typhoid that still bears his name. Typhoid fever quarantine sign, State of Pennsylvania, ca 1930s. The diagnostic test aided public health departments in their efforts to control the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. The Keidel device was marketed particularly for the Wassermann test-a serological test for syphilis developed by August Paul von Wassermann in 1906. The sample could then be resealed and sent to the laboratory for testing. After the needle was inserted into the vein, the seal was broken, allowing blood to be drawn quickly into the glass tube. Each sterile package contained a needle attached via a short rubber tube to a sealed glass vacuum tube. The Keidel Vacuum Bleeding Tube, introduced around 1915, provided one solution. Testing blood serum for the presence of antibodies required specialized tools and techniques for collecting blood samples without introducing contaminants. Public health poster promoting blood tests for syphilis and gonorrhea, Bureau of Social Hygiene, New York City, 1930s. Keidel Vacuum Bleeding Tube, ca 1915, “For the quick and aseptic collection of blood for the Wassermann and other reactions.” In recent years, the increase of point-of-care diagnostic devices has allowed more testing to move out of the laboratory and into the clinic or home.Įach of the following tests has had an enormous influence on how individuals and communities have chosen to control, prevent, and treat disease. Rapid screening tests that can be used in the field are often backed up by more extensive laboratory-based tests. Factors such as cost, speed, and ease-of-use influence the design of testing methods and devices. Scientists, doctors, and public health workers employ tests for different purposes. Repeat testing and different techniques can give conflicting results. Diagnostic tests continue to influence our understanding of disease and how we define the borders between sickness and health.Įven the most accurate tests are imperfect. Testing could reveal infections before outward symptoms appeared and helped identify disease “carriers”-individuals who remained symptomless but nonetheless could spread disease. These tests revealed information about the patient’s disease history, including both on-going infections and prior exposure to disease. Scientists devised tests to detect the presence of antibodies in blood and employed antigens to provoke an immune response. The new tools emerged from a growing understanding of the immune system and the role played by antitoxins (antibodies) that the body produced in response to invading organisms or toxins (antigens). Beginning in the late 19th century, scientists investigating infectious disease developed new diagnostic techniques along with new therapies. To skip the text and go directly to the objects, CLICK HEREĪccurate medical diagnosis is a critical first step for determining individual treatments, as well as for tracking the spread of disease and establishing effective public health strategies.
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