OTC Ferritin Rapid Test

【SUMMARY】
Anemia due to iron depletion is widely held in children and women of all ages but mainly in women who still have their periods (at least 20% suffer from iron deficiency). Main signs are paleness, feeling tired, headaches, faster heartbeat, or shortness of breath during exercise. They may appear gradually and could go unnoticed.

Iron deficiency occurs when blood does not contain enough red blood cells and thus low levels of hemoglobin, which is the major protein involved in oxygen transport in whole body. An important component of hemoglobin is iron.
Depletion of iron, which can happen during pregnancy, growth, in case of insufficient iron intake, inadequate absorption or blood loss (period, abnormal bleedings, ulcers, etc.) has tremendous effects on health. Low ferritin may also indicate hypothyroidism, vitamin C deficiency or celiac disease. Low ferritin levels are seen in some patients with restless legs syndrome, not necessarily related to anemia, but perhaps due to low iron stores short of anemia.

【PROCEDURE】
1. Wash your hands with soap and rinse with clear warm water.
2. Bring the pouch to room temperature before opening it. Open the foil pouch and get out the cassette.
3. Carefully pull off and dispose the released cap of the lancet.
4. Use the provided alcohol pad to clean the fingertip of the middle finger as the puncture site.
5. Press the lancet, on the side from where the cap was extracted; against the fingertip (it is advisable the ring finger side).The tip retracts automatically and safely after use.
6. Keeping the hand down massage the end that was pricked to obtain a blood drop.
7. Without squeezing the capillary dropper bulb, put it in contact with the blood. The blood migrates into the capillary dropper through the capillarity to the line indicated on the capillary dropper. You may massage again your finger to obtain more blood if the line is not reached. As far as possible, avoid of air bubbles.
8. Put the blood collected into the sample well of the cassette, by squeezing the dropper bulb.
9. Wait for the blood to be totally dispensed in the well. Unscrew the cap of the buffer bottle and add 1 drop of buffer into the sample well of the cassette.
10.Wait for the colored line(s) to appear. Read results at 5 minutes. Do not interpret the result after 10 minutes.