Syndromic testing is a process by which a healthcare provider simultaneously tests a patient for multiple pathogens with overlapping

symptomology Signs and symptoms are the observed or detectable signs, and experienced symptoms of an illness, injury, or condition. A sign for example may be a higher or lower temperature than normal, raised or lowered blood pressure or an abnormality showin ...

. This allows providers to order one test to see if patients are suffering from any one of multiple causes, rather than having to order a test for each potential underlying reason for the illness. It can be used with patients that are

immunosuppressed Immunosuppression is a reduction of the activation or efficacy of the immune system. Some portions of the immune system itself have immunosuppressive effects on other parts of the immune system, and immunosuppression may occur as an adverse reacti ...

, in hospital environments that have limited testing assets, or patients that could be suffering from any number of or combination of reasons for a specific syndrome, such as respiratory distress,

gastroenteritis Gastroenteritis, also known as infectious diarrhea and gastro, is an inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract including the stomach and intestine. Symptoms may include diarrhea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. Fever, lack of energy, and dehydra ...

, bloodstream infections, or CNS infections. The test uses multi-panel syndromic

assay An assay is an investigative (analytic) procedure in laboratory medicine, mining, pharmacology, environmental biology and molecular biology for qualitatively assessing or quantitatively measuring the presence, amount, or functional activity of a ...

s that allow the simultaneous detection of a number of agents, increasing the accuracy of tests for microbial agents. The first multiplex panel for syndromic testing to be approved by the

FDA The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food ...

received approval in 2008, and since, panels for several potential pathogens have been approved.

References

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