THE ROLE OF NUCLEIC-ACID AMPLIFICATION AND DETECTION IN THE CLINICAL MICROBIOLOGY LABORATORY

Clinical microbiology is in the midst of a new era. Methodology that i s based on nucleic acid detection has slowly appeared in the diagnosti c laboratory, and is revolutionizing our ability to assist physicians in the diagnosis and management of patients suffering from infectious diseases. Much like the introduction of immunoassays built around hybr idoma technology in the 1980s, considerable doubt and promise exist ha nd in hand in the 1990s. Conventional testing that is technically stra ight forward, informative, and timely will always be a part of clinica l microbiology; however, considerable room for improvement exists with organisms/diseases for which laboratory methods are limited. Nucleic acid methodology will have its greatest and long-awaited impact in thi s arena.