What Is The Syphilis Screening - Rapid Plasma Reagin Test For?
The RPR blood tests is used to screen for the presence of syphilis by detecting nonspecific antibodies. These are produced by your body in repsonse to a syphilis infection.
A normal RPR blood sample shows no antibodies typically produced during an infection. However, your doctor cannot completely rule out syphilis if they see no antibodies.
Once you’ve been infected, it takes some time for your immune system to create antibodies. Shortly after infection, a test may not yet show any antibodies. This is known as a false negative.
False negatives tend to be more common in the initial and end stages of infection. Among people who are in the secondary (middle) stage of infection, the RPR test result is nearly always positive.
