Article,

: Rapid Plasma Reagin (RPR)

07:02 Nadia Sarwar 0 Comments

What is RPR?
Rapid plasma Reagin is a test for the screening or testing of syphilis diseases.
This screening test detects the anti-bodies present in the blood or the Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the brain. The level of anti-bodies that are present in the body are measured and test is positive if the treponimal anti-body presence is positive and it confirms that an infection is present there.
RPR= Rapid Plasma Reagin
Rapid>> Test is performed within few minutes
Plasma>> Sample of test in usually plasma or serum
Reagin>> This term actually means that the test does not look for the anti bodies against the actual bacterium but it founds for anti bodies that are produced by the cells against the bacterium Treponema Pallidum. Fatty substances relased, combine with the protein from bacterium and form an antigen to produce the anti bodies against the body's tissue lipids.
What is Syphilis disease?
Syphilis is a disease that is caused by the “Treponema Pallidum” i-e bacteria that cause the disease.  It is a sexually transmitted disease and it is life threatening if left un treated or un diagnosed. It occurs in 3 stages which are primary, secondary and tertiary. It is treated in the primary stage with anti-bodies like Penicillin if diagnosed early.
Symptoms Of Syphilis:
Primary syphilis cause the formation of blisters, sores on the genital areas like vagina, penis, scrotum, anus and thighs, and these are painful. Treatment is easy if it is diagnosed in the early stage. Secondary syphilis cause skin rash that is widely spreading along with fever, sore throat etc.
Tertiary syphilis is characterized by the gummas, lesion of central nervous system and such individuals are at higher risk and damage to their nerves, skin, blood vessels and other visceral organs may occur like liver, kidney, gall badder etc. In case of tertiary stage it is usually treated with surgical intervention if severe.
Pregnant women are also tested regularly for syphilis through RPR test because infection can be transmitted to the new born baby during child birth. Child born with syphillis are usually stillborn or die shortly after birth. The bacterium usually penetrated intact mucosa and abrade the skin.
Other symptoms include fever, weight loss, hair loss, rapid cough, skin rash, sores and painful blisters. Then rashes might develop on the soles of feet, palms or other parts of the body that are painful and produce the itching sensation, scratching the area might cause infection that is wide spreading. Primary symptoms usually disappear after three to twelve weeks. The latent stage is then may lasts a person life time and is usually detected by a blood test such as RPR or FTA-ABS. Sometimes the dementia, numbness of skin and pins and needles might occur along with paralysis. Burning sensation during urination, muscle aches, tender or swollen glands in the groin area. After an incubation period of two to three weeks a red painless primary lesion called a Chancre (Shang'ker) appears at the site of bacterial invasion.
Test used:
Different tests are used for the diagnoses of syphilis like Rapid Plasma Reagin, (RPR)Fluorescent Treponemal Antibody Absorption Test (FTA-ABS) and Microhemmaglutination Assay (MHA-TP) etc
        FTA-ABS is the most specific test for the diagnosis of syphilis and if it is positive then it confirms the diagnoses. But FTA-ABS test is expensive test. Its specificity is about 96%.  Most of the doctors suggests RPR test because it is easy to use and it is specific and it generally does not require any specific laboratory for test processing.
Telling difference between Genital Herpes and Syphilis:
There is a major difference between genital herpes and syphilis, former is caused by the herpes simplex virus and it is a sexually transmitted disease and can also be transmitted from mother to child during child birth. It causes the formation of blisters, sores around the genital areas that are very painful. Later is caused by the bacteria and it is also a sexually transmitted disease like the herpes.
Procedure for RPR:
Doctor or the health care provider take the blood sample of the organism being tested. Blood is taken through simple procedure called Venipuncture. This procedure does provoke symptoms like dizziness, light headedness of the individual or excessive bleeding form the punctured area. Consult to health care provider if the conditions are severe. After the blood sample is taken it is tested for the presence of any anti-body present.
Test could be of two types :
>>False Positive (It occurs when you actually don't have disease and the presence of anti bodies shows that syphilis is there when actually it's not there)
>>False Negative (It occurs in the early stages when infection is in the initial stage)

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