MOLECULAR DIAGNOSTICS FOR INFECTIOUS-DISEASES

Molecular methods for the diagnosis of infectious disease are playing an increasingly important role in the clinical microbiology laboratory , Commercial nucleic acid probe assays have come into use in many labo ratories for culture confirmation as well as the direct detection of i nfectious organisms in clinical samples, Amplified nucleic acid techno logies such as polymerase chain reaction, transcription mediated ampli fication, and ligase chain reaction have recently been used to develop commercial kit assays that are just starting to enter the clinical la boratory. The amplified assays are often more sensitive than tradition al microbiological techniques and can quickly detect such microorganis ms as Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Chlamydia trachomatis,and HIV-1 in c linical samples, Although some challenges remain in the implementation of these assays in the routine laboratory, these tests will soon be w idely used in conjunction with existing microbiology methods, Molecula r methods will eventually replace some of the traditional methods and will dramatically accelerate and improve the diagnosis of infectious d iseases.