Infectious diseases testing.

Molecular methods have been applied widely for the diagnosis of infectious diseases. Beginning with solution hybridization in the early 1990s, multiple methods for nucleic acid hybridization and amplification have been introduced into the laboratory for the identification and characterization of microbial pathogens. This unit contains examples of several basic approaches for microbial detection or characterization in the laboratory. Methods in this chapter include automated nucleic acid extraction, direct detection of microbial pathogens, and characterization of pathogens by DNA sequencing or typing. Any of these methods could be customized for the characterization of bacteria, fungi, parasites, or viruses.