Topic: Update on my equivocal malaria test? - ! - ?
tailz
Unregistered
posted
I emailed Quest to find out their method of testing, because my sister works in micro at another lab.
Here's what he sent me:
"In the malaria tests that you had performed the malaria smear is a direct examination of your blood cells for the malaria parasite.
The results go out with a notation for the physician that reminds them that since this disease is cyclical in nature a series of negatives must be achieved."
Does this mean I have it? I thought they can tell the difference between babesia and malaria?
I don't have the results of my redraw yet. I had it redrawn last Monday. I've never been outside of the US.
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Aniek
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 5374
posted
It probably means they couldn't tell. If it's not an antibody level, then an equivocal likely means there was something and there weren't sure if it was malaria or not, or they just couldn't determine.
-------------------- "When there is pain, there are no words." - Toni Morrison Posts: 4711 | From Washington, DC | Registered: Mar 2004
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tailz
Unregistered
posted
That is kind of scary, isn't it? That they couldn't identify my pathogen with an entire EDTA tube full of my blood? I'll be curious how this next one comes back - I had a babesia and a malaria drawn by Quest this time.
What worries me is that I lean more towards malaria than babesia - simply because I almost died last year. The only way I've survived this far has been by avoiding iron-rich foods - and thus, the red blood cells they thrive in.
Even if this is negative, I won't believe it. I'm going to make him test me over and over again, just like he does with Lyme.
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