Infectious Diseases

Bartonella is a bacterial infection caused by a scratch from an infected cat. It causes three known infections: ‘Cat Scratch Disease,’ Trench Fever, and Carrion’s Disease. SmarTest Labs performs disease-specific tests for the Infectious Disease tests to determine the presence of the Bartonella bacteria. Bartonellosis is a group of emerging infectious diseases caused by bacteria belonging to the Bartonella genus. Bartonella includes at least 22 named species of bacteria that are mainly transmitted by carriers (vectors), including fleas, lice, or sandflies.

• Common symptoms among the three diseases include fever, headaches, muscle aches, and sometimes rashes.
• Cat Scratch Disease also causes swelling of the lymph nodes, and sometimes an abscess appears at the scratch site.
• Carrion’s Disease sufferers may also develop abdominal pain, severe anemia, and the growth of warts under the skin.
• Some species of the Bartonella bacteria can cause endocarditis, an infection of the heart valves.

Hepatitis refers to an inflammatory condition of the liver. It’s commonly caused by a viral infection, but there are other possible causes of hepatitis. These include autoimmune hepatitis and hepatitis that occurs as a secondary result of medications, drugs, toxins, and alcohol. The disease can be contracted through unprotected sex, using contaminated needles, or other causes.  There are several types of infectious hepatitis – each caused by a different hepatitis virus.

• Hepatitis A can be caused by consuming contaminated water or food.
• Hepatitis B can be contracted through sharing contaminated needles, having unprotected sex, or being exposed to infected blood from another person.
• Hepatitis C can be spread by blood from contaminated needles during drug use or tattooing as well as by having unprotected sex.

This panel verifies immunity to hepatitis A, B and C

• Lyme disease is quite common in rural areas of the United States and spreads through bites from infected ticks.
• Lyme disease can cause headaches, fatigue, sore muscles and joints, and a fever, but it may take from three days to a month for any symptoms to appear if they appear at all. It is possible to have no symptoms in the early stages of the disease.
• Lyme Disease symptoms can last for months or even years after a Lyme disease infection.
• Lyme disease is easily treated with antibiotics. For a small percentage of people the effects on Lyme disease can have long-term effects even after treatment.
• If left untreated, Lyme disease can cause problems with the skin, joints, the nervous system, memory problems, weakness and numbness of the arms and legs, and, less commonly, an irregular heartbeat and eye inflammation.

Measles is a highly contagious infectious disease caused by measles virus. Symptoms usually develop 10–12 days after exposure to an infected person and last 7–10 days. Initial symptoms typically include fever, often greater than 40 °C (104 °F), cough, runny nose, and inflamed eyes. Immunization provides lifelong immunity oto all three of these diseases. This test verifies presence of antibodies verifying immunity.

• This “MMR-test” will confirm if you have had measles, mumps, or rubella
• If you have been exposed to the viruses that cause these diseases, the test will show the antibody in your blood, and you will be immune to reinfection. Having this immunity means you will not catch the disease again, nor can you transmit it to another person. A positive immunity test helps in immigration and students going into academic settings.

Mononucleosis is caused by the Epstein Barr virus and is common in adolescents and young adults. The symptoms could be exhaustion, feeling tired, feverish, have a sore throat, etc.

Mono proceeds in three phases. First, a prodrome lasting 1-2 weeks with few if any symptoms. Second, an acute phase lasting 2 to 6 weeks during which the individual may be very sick with fevers, swollen glands, severe sore throat, and exhaustion.

If you have had MONO in the past you could still test positive for the test.

QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus (QFT-Plus) is a whole-blood test or interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA) that can measure a person’s immune reactivity and aid in diagnosing Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. It offers advantages over the conventional tuberculin skin test (TST) for diagnosing LTBI.