ELISA (enzyme immunoassay) refers to immunological tests, in which most often, serum is taken for examination blood drawn from a vein.
The ELISA method provides information about human immune system contact with an infectious agent. It is an indirect method of diagnosing an infection, i.e. it does not allow direct assessment of the presence of an infection in the human body (except for the detection of antigens in the sample). Evaluation is based on the response of the person's immune system in response to the introduction of the infection into the body. In this case, protective substances called antibodies are formed in the human body, and they are examined by ELISA.
Antibodies, which are usually tested in medical laboratories, are of the M and G and Total classes. The treating physician, by analyzing the presence or absence of these or those classes of antibodies, makes a conclusion about the period of the infectious process - acute, chronic in remission or chronic in acute stage, based on the immune response of the body.
PCR analysis - polymerase chain reaction, refers to molecular genetic methods of investigation in which a sample is taken for examination where the infectious agent of interest may be directly present. It can be a plasma sample obtained from venous blood (hepatitis viruses, CMV, etc. are tested from this biomaterial), for sexually transmitted infections usually a scraping from the urogenital tract is taken (the agent of interest is chlamydia, mycoplasmas, ureaplasmas, etc.).
The PCR assay refers to direct methods of detecting infectious agents, and allows the conclusion to be made about the direct presence of an infectious agent in a person at the time of testing.
Both ELISA and PCR data are necessary to obtain the most complete picture of the disease. Competent prescribing and proper combination of these methods of investigation allow for reasonable treatment adjustments.
