Screening
Serological screening
In theory, populations can be tested for the prevalence of rickettsial infection by testing the sera of asymptomatic persons for the presence of antibodies to rickettsiae. A high seroprevalence would indicate that the population was at high risk of rickettsial infection. In practice, however, a screening programme of asymptomatic individuals would be hard to implement, even to prevent transfusion-transmitted infection from asymptomatic blood donors.[28]
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