Definition

The Serologic Diagnosis of Infectious Disease

It is not uncommon to suffer an infection with an organism that is not
identify able by Gram staining or other microscopic analysis and is not
readily cultured. For these infections, the diagnosis is oft en made by
identifying and measuring the amount of antibody produced in response
to an antigen derived from the infectious agent. The antibody response
typically takes several days to a week or 2 (dependent on past exposure)
to emerge, and the appearance of IgM antibody before IgG occurs in
most infections. This is why the presence of IgM antibody in a serologic
test is likely to reflect an acute infection rather than past exposure.
Serologic tests may also be designed to detect and measure an antigen
associated with the infectious agent. This obviates the inherent delay in
diagnosis of the infection of up to approximately 2 weeks while waiting
for the antibody response to occur.