In our last biotech lab we will be testing fluid for HIV and similar diseases. In this lab we will be revealing what happens after you send your blood in for a HIV test. This test is used all around the world in order to determine whether or not someone is infected with HIV as well as testing for many other things such as pregnancy. This test is also good because it can be done without any complex equipment therefore making it an excellent choice for poorer countries. The method used to test the blood or other bodily fluid is called enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay or ELISA for short. ELISA is fairly simple to understand. First a bodily fluid sample must be taken. Then primary antibodies that are specifically designed to attach to a certain antigen are added to the sample. Secondary antibodies are then added as well which attach to the primary antibodies and have enzymes attached to them. A substrate is then added and it reacts with the enzymes causing a color change therefore displaying the results to be seen easily.
Our lab results weren't what we expected them to be. We expected only a few people in the class to be infected and didn't realize how fast the disease would spread. After only swapping fluids with 3 people each all of the members of my table were positive for the "disease" and the majority of the people in the class were also positive with the exception of a few people. Errors could have occured during the cleaning process of the tubes used in the lab, this could explain all the positives because some of the antigen and antibodies could be left in the tubes. Seeing these results is a little scary because of all the actual diseases in the world that actually can be spread like this.
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