Molecular-Based Techniques for Diagnosing Microbial Infections

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Introduction Although some infections are unique enough to be identified clinically, usually microbiologic laboratory methods are needed to identify the etiologic agent and diagnose microbial infection (Washington, J.A., 1996). Although we have made significant progress in our ability to diagnose and treat infectious diseases, they still remain a strong challenge to human survival, for example the disease Tuberculosis caused by a microbial infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis accounted for one third of the worlds bacterial infections in 2010 infecting a total of 8.8 million people worldwide (Dheda et al., 2010). Diagnosis is important not only for prescribing effective drugs but for preventing the evolution of resistant microorganisms (Mori and Notomi, 2009). Traditionally, the microbiology laboratory identified etiologic agents of infectious disease by the direct examination and culture of clinical specimens. Methods of identifying and differentiating microorganisms responsible for microbial infection mainly relied on microbial morphology, staining properties of the organism and its growth variables. However, a major restriction is that >99% of the microorganisms observed through a microscope are not cultivable by these direct techniques (Rastogi and Sani, 2011). Other disadvantages of these traditional methods include their lack of reproducibility and the difficulties they produce in typing as they are usually not sensitive enough for strain differentiation. These techniques are also restricted by the number of organisms present and the skill of the microbiologist in recognising different pathogens (Tang et al., 1997). Over the past few decades, the development and introduction of molecular-based techniques into the labora... ... middle of paper ... ...nd Notomi, T. (2009) 'Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP): a rapid, accurate, and cost-effective diagnostic method for infectious diseases.', J Infect Chemother, 15(2), pp. 62-69. Muldrew, K.L. (2009) 'Molecular diagnostics of infectious diseases',Curr Opin Pediatr, 21(1), pp. 102-111. Rastogi, G. and Sani, R.K. (2011) 'Chapter 2 :Molecular Techniques to Assess Microbial Community Structure, Function, and Dynamics in the Environment', in Ahmad, I., Ahmad, F. and Pichtel, J. (ed.)Microbes and Microbial Technology. California, USA: Springer Science, pp. 29-57. Tang, Y.W, Procop, G.W. and Persing, D.H. (1997) 'Molecular diagnostics of infectious diseases', Clin Chem, 43(11), pp. 2021-2038. Washington, J.A. (1996) 'Chapter 10 :Principles of Diagnosis', in Samuel Baron (ed.) Medical Microbiology 4th Edn. Galveston, Texas: University of Texas Medical Branch.

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