Serologic testing is used to diagnose certain acute, recent or chronic infectious diseases by detecting antigens or antibodies in the blood. In some cases, when the suspected etiologic agent is impossible, difficult or dangerous to grow in cultures in a routine diagnostic laboratory, serology is the safest, most practical testing method. Monitoring antibody levels that the body produces in response to exposure is important in the medical care of the patient, as well as in stopping the spread of disease from person to person.

Serology’s most commonly performed assay helps diagnose latent tuberculosis infection, with more than half being performed on students from highrisk TB areas of the world who are attending Iowa’s universities and colleges. Screening for latent TB infection is an admission requirement to prevent the potential spread of the disease that could occur as international students join the campus population. The acquisition of a new instrument, the Dynex DSX, by the serology section will increase the daily capacity for testing TB. This will in turn allow the student testing to occur over a shorter time period thus decreasing the chance of a student with a positive test from spreading the disease because of a delay in testing.

Measles and mumps exposures, as well as mosquito- and tick-borne diseases, are some of the diseases commonly requested for testing in support of epidemiological investigations performed by the Iowa Department of Public Health.