Emerging Advances in Rapid Diagnostics of Respiratory Infections

There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

Abstract

Recent developments in rapid diagnostics for respiratory infections have mostly occurred in the areas of antigen and nucleic acid detection. Nucleic acid amplification tests have improved the ability to identify respiratory viruses in clinical specimens and have played pivotal roles in the rapid characterization of new viral pathogens. Antigen-detection assays in immunochromatographic or similar formats are most easily developed as near-patient tests, although they have been developed commercially only for a limited range of respiratory pathogens. New approaches for respiratory pathogen detection are needed, and breath analysis is an exciting area with enormous potential.

Related collections

Most cited references 102

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Evaluation and improvement of real-time PCR assays targeting lytA, ply, and psaA genes for detection of pneumococcal DNA.

Maria da Glória S. Carvalho, Maria Tondella, Karen McCaustland … (2007)

The accurate diagnosis of pneumococcal disease has frequently been hampered not only by the difficulties in obtaining isolates of the organism from patient specimens but also by the misidentification of pneumococcus-like viridans group streptococci (P-LVS) as Streptococcus pneumoniae. This is especially critical when the specimen comes from the respiratory tract. In this study, three novel real-time PCR assays designed for the detection of specific sequence regions of the lytA, ply, and psaA genes were developed (lytA-CDC, ply-CDC, and psaA, respectively). These assays showed high sensitivity (<10 copies for lytA-CDC and ply-CDC and an approximately twofold less sensitivity for psaA). Two additional real-time PCR assays for lytA and ply described previously for pneumococcal DNA detection were also evaluated. A panel of isolates consisting of 67 S. pneumoniae isolates (44 different serotypes and 3 nonencapsulated S. pneumoniae isolates from conjunctivitis outbreaks) and 104 nonpneumococcal isolates was used. The 67 S. pneumoniae isolates were reactive in all five assays. The new real-time detection assays targeting the lytA and psaA genes were the most specific for the detection of isolates confirmed to be S. pneumoniae, with lytA-CDC showing the greatest specificity. Both ply PCRs were positive for all isolates of S. pseudopneumoniae, along with 13 other isolates of other P-LVS isolates confirmed to be non-S. pneumoniae by DNA-DNA reassociation. Thus, the use of the ply gene for the detection of pneumococci can lead to false-positive reactions in the presence of P-LVS. The five assays were applied to 15 culture-positive cerebrospinal fluid specimens with 100% sensitivity; and serum and ear fluid specimens were also evaluated. Both the lytA-CDC and psaA assays, particularly the lytA-CDC assay, have improved specificities compared with those of currently available assays and should therefore be considered the assays of choice for the detection of pneumococcal DNA, particularly when upper respiratory P-LVS might be present in the clinical specimen.

0 comments Cited 212 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Detection of respiratory viruses by molecular methods.

James B Mahony (2008)

Clinical laboratories historically diagnose seven or eight respiratory virus infections using a combination of techniques including enzyme immunoassay, direct fluorescent antibody staining, cell culture, and nucleic acid amplification tests. With the discovery of six new respiratory viruses since 2000, laboratories are faced with the challenge of detecting up to 19 different viruses that cause acute respiratory disease of both the upper and lower respiratory tracts. The application of nucleic acid amplification technology, particularly multiplex PCR coupled with fluidic or fixed microarrays, provides an important new approach for the detection of multiple respiratory viruses in a single test. These multiplex amplification tests provide a sensitive and comprehensive approach for the diagnosis of respiratory tract infections in individual hospitalized patients and the identification of the etiological agent in outbreaks of respiratory tract infection in the community. This review describes the molecular methods used to detect respiratory viruses and discusses the contribution that molecular testing, especially multiplex PCR, has made to our ability to detect respiratory viruses and to increase our understanding of the roles of various viral agents in acute respiratory disease.

0 comments Cited 203 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Incidence and characteristics of viral community-acquired pneumonia in adults.

L. Jennings, T. Anderson, K. A. Beynon … (2008)

In adults, viral causes of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) are poorly characterised. The aims of this study were to characterise the viral aetiology of CAP in adults by using an extensive array of viral diagnostic tests and to compare the characteristics of viral pneumonia with those of pneumococcal pneumonia. Adults admitted to Christchurch Hospital over a 1-year period with CAP were included in the study. Microbiological testing methods included blood and sputum cultures, urinary antigen testing for Streptococcus pneumoniae and Legionella pneumophila, antibody detection in paired sera and detection of respiratory viruses in nasopharyngeal swabs by immunofluorescence, culture and PCR. Of 304 patients with CAP, a viral diagnosis was made in 88 (29%), with rhinoviruses and influenza A being the most common. Two or more pathogens were detected in 49 (16%) patients, 45 of whom had mixed viral and bacterial infections. There were no reliable clinical predictors of viral pneumonia, although several variables were independently associated with some aetiologies. The presence of myalgia was associated with pneumonia caused by any respiratory virus (OR 3.62, 95% CI 1.29 to 10.12) and influenza pneumonia (OR 190.72, 95% CI 3.68 to 9891.91). Mixed rhinovirus/pneumococcal infection was associated with severe disease. Virus-associated CAP is common in adults. Polymicrobial infections involving bacterial and viral pathogens are frequent and may be associated with severe pneumonia.

0 comments Cited 191 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

All references

Author and article information

Contributors

David R. Murdoch

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Infect Dis Clin North Am

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Infect. Dis. Clin. North Am

Title: Infectious Disease Clinics of North America

Publisher: Elsevier Inc.

ISSN (Print): 0891-5520

ISSN (Electronic): 1557-9824

Publication date PMC-release: 2 August 2010

Publication date (Print): September 2010

Publication date (Electronic): 2 August 2010

Volume: 24

Issue: 3

Pages: 791-807

Affiliations

[a ]Department of Pathology, University of Otago Christchurch, PO Box 4345, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand

[b ]Microbiology Unit, Canterbury Health Laboratories, PO Box 151, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand

[c ]Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, 600 North Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA

Author notes

[∗ ]Corresponding author. Department of Pathology, University of Otago Christchurch, PO Box 4345, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand. david.murdoch@ 123456cdhb.govt.nz

Article

Publisher ID: S0891-5520(10)00033-4

DOI: 10.1016/j.idc.2010.04.006

PMC ID: 7134633

PubMed ID: 20674804

SO-VID: 2b9f6298-ca16-4ae6-b177-e2c8646d3161

License:

Since January 2020 Elsevier has created a COVID-19 resource centre with free information in English and Mandarin on the novel coronavirus COVID-19. The COVID-19 resource centre is hosted on Elsevier Connect, the company's public news and information website. Elsevier hereby grants permission to make all its COVID-19-related research that is available on the COVID-19 resource centre - including this research content - immediately available in PubMed Central and other publicly funded repositories, such as the WHO COVID database with rights for unrestricted research re-use and analyses in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for free by Elsevier for as long as the COVID-19 resource centre remains active.

Emerging Advances in Rapid Diagnostics of Respiratory Infections

Read this article at

Abstract

Related collections

Novel Coronavirus Disease COVID-19

Most cited references 102

Evaluation and improvement of real-time PCR assays targeting lytA, ply, and psaA genes for detection of pneumococcal DNA.

Detection of respiratory viruses by molecular methods.

Incidence and characteristics of viral community-acquired pneumonia in adults.

Author and article information

Contributors

Journal

Affiliations

Author notes

Article

History

Categories

Comments

Comment on this article

Similar content 84

Cited by 11

Most referenced authors 1,057