Current trends toward cost effective medicine demonstrate the need for
rapid diagnostic tests which can be performed during the patient visi
t at the point-of-care (POC). The ability to rapidly and accurately de
tect the presence of an infectious agent (bacterial or viral) provides
valuable information to guide patient management. The usefulness of s
uch a test must be balanced by its timeliness (immediacy of result), r
eliability (test performance), cost (fiscal and medical) and staff imp
act (test complexity) in a strict regulatory climate. Today, POC testi
ng for infectious diseases can, in specific situations, improve not on
ly the quality but also the cost-effectiveness of treatment. This arti
cle briefly reviews the historical development of POC testing for infe
ctious diseases and the technologies available, using specific example
s to illustrate the need for such testing and identify factors critica
l in its implementation.