Question

Coomb's test is used for detection of:

• A. \( \text{Yellow fever} \)
• B. \( \text{Syphilis} \)
• C. \( \text{Typhoid} \)
• D. \( \text{Antiglobulin} \)

Hint:

The Coomb's test is essential in blood transfusion compatibility testing and diagnosing autoimmune conditions like hemolytic anemia.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is D

A test's name usually tells you exactly what it detects, and the Coombs test's other name gives away the answer here directly.

1. Yellow fever: Picked up with virus-specific serology or PCR testing, tools that are not connected to the Coombs test in any way.
2. Syphilis: Picked up with dedicated tests like VDRL and TPHA that target Treponema pallidum antibodies specifically, not with Coombs testing.
3. Typhoid: Picked up with the Widal test or a stool or blood culture for Salmonella typhi, again unrelated to Coombs testing.
4. Antiglobulin: The Coombs test is universally known as the antiglobulin test, since anti-human globulin reagent is what makes red blood cells coated with antibody or complement clump together and reveal a positive result. Both the direct form, testing cells straight from the patient, and the indirect form, testing serum for these antibodies, rely on this same antiglobulin reaction.

Since the test is literally named for the antiglobulin reaction it relies on, that reaction, not any single infectious disease, is what it detects. The correct answer is Antiglobulin.