DNA chips in microbiological surveillance.

DNA chip technology has greatly evolved oiler the last decade and, associat ed with complete genome sequencing, is in the process of introducing a revo lution into biological research. It is providing new and unique tools for s tudying emerging diseases outbreaks and epidemics. Nevertheless, microbiolo gical surveillance, medical diagnosis, and field work involve a number of d ifficulties for which these new techniques have not yet been validated. Cur rently available chips are still limited in their application, but offer a powerful and economical alternative to former methods and will undoubtedly offer a range of unexplored applications in coming years.