If significant levels of either develop while someone is taking a drug known to cause kidney problems, the dose of the drug may need to be reduced or stopped altogether. Glycosuria may also be a sign of diabetes. The presence of red or white blood cells in the urine is also abnormal and may indicate disease processes such as bladder infection or kidney stones. Blood in the urine is not usually a cause for alarm for women who are having their periods since they sometimes get blood into the urine specimen during collection. For an HIV-positive patient with diarrhea, a stool test is often the first step.
Labs routinely check for common bacterial and protozoal infections.
Very often, these prove to be the cause of the diarrhea and most can be treated relatively easily. If the results of the stool test comes back negative, the doctor may need to specifically order stool tests to look for isosporiasis, microsporidiosis, and cryptosporidiosis, three relatively uncommon infections that can cause serious diarrhea in patients with substantially compromised immune systems. HIV-positive women may be at an increased risk of developing cervical disease, including cancer. A Pap smear requires a doctor or another trained medical professional to lightly scrape the cervix and its surrounding area with a small wooden spatula. The scraping is applied to a glass slide and sent to a pathology laboratory for examination under the microscope.