Patent ID: 7338809

Claim:
A method for measuring quantitatively or qualitatively an analyte in a whole blood sample, comprising: forming a reaction system by mixing the whole blood sample with a whole blood treatment solution comprising detergent of the type that does not cause hemolysis, and adding to the mixture of the whole blood sample and the whole blood treatment solution a first substance which is immobilized on a solid carrier and specifically binds to an analyte contained in the whole blood sample and a second substance which specifically binds to the analyte to allow the analyte to react with the first and second substances to form a complex of first substance-analyte-second substance, separating the complex, and detecting the complex to measure quantitatively or qualitatively the analyte in the complex, wherein said reaction system comprises the detergent in a concentration range of 0.5 to 5% so that hemolysis is prevented.