RAPID MOLECULAR-DETECTION OF MICROBIAL PATHOGENS - BREAKTHROUGHS AND CHALLENGES

Microbiological contamination of foods and drinking water is a global problem, and a significant amount of expense is being incurred as a re sult of such contamination. The microorganisms associated with almost half of all disease outbreaks still go unidentified, primarily as a re sult of inadequate monitoring and surveillance. Though significant imp rovements have been made in refining molecular methods for detecting i nfectious agents, a majority of these methods are being employed only on clinical samples where pathogen densities are much higher than thos e found in environmental and food samples. Comparative evaluations of the various protocols in terms of cost, sensitivity, specificity, spee d, and reproducibility need to be undertaken so that the true applicab ility of these methods can determined. In the future, molecular method s, especially gene amplifications and in situ hybridizations, will fin d increasing applications in the differentiation of viable and non-via ble organisms, in predicting antimicrobial resistance, and in the iden tification and characterization of unculturable microorganisms. Though molecular detection methods will not totally replace conventional met hods, they will significantly enhance our ability to detect microbial pathogens rapidly.