Serology is the study of serums such as blood and other human fluids.
Traditionally, evidence from comparative anatomy was of predominant importance, but more recently information from such disciplines as physiology, serology, and genetics has proved useful in considering relationships.
Bordet's research on the destruction of bacteria and red corpuscles in blood serum, conducted at the Pasteur Institute, Paris (1894 1901), contributed significantly to the foundation of serology, the study of immune reactions in body fluids.
Its technicians, who represent many fields of chemistry, physics and engineering, include experts in firearms identification, serology, spectrography, metallurgy, explosives, hair and fibre analyses and handwriting identification.
Developments in microscopy, serology and immunology, molecular biology, and laboratory instrumentation have resulted in many new and sophisticated laboratory procedures for the identification of plant pathogens, particularly bacteria, viruses, and viroids.
Case definitions may be based on a constellation of clinical signs (e.g., fever with vomiting or diarrhea) or on serology (e.g., the presence of antibodies to the etiologic agent).
The virus can be detected in animals in two ways: a widely used, easily performed test for antibodies in the serum or plasma of poultry, known as a serology test, or a much more expensive and difficult experiment to isolate specific viruses from the birds, which can only be done in a few well-equipped labs in China.
"When you are running a serology, you usually don't run it against one, you run it against a battery of viruses that you know are circulating," he said in a telephone interview.
The disadvantage is that the poultry develops antibodies to the virus, so serology tests become unreliable.
The crucial question is whether veterinary technicians were doing serology tests only for H5N1 bird flu, which has been a chronic problem in China for 16 years, or whether they were testing for a broader range of avian influenza viruses and misread, ignored or decided not to publicize any detection of H7N9.
