ABSTRACT
Effective clinical management and possible treatment of patients with viral infections relies on the rapid and specific identification of the causative organism. The early recognition of an infectious agent allows clinicians to make sound therapeutic decisions and avoid the indiscriminate use of antibiotics. Traditionally, these methods have included virus isolation by cell culture, detection of viral products, or the detection of antibodies produced as a result of infection. However, in many cases these methods can be laborious, time-consuming, and may lack sensitivity, thereby prolonging or denying definitive diagnosis and subsequent treatment of the patient. Rapid molecular diagnostic tools and detection methods, such as nucleic acid amplification, are used increasingly in the clinical microbiology laboratory to enhance the identification of viral pathogens and to assist physicians in the diagnosis and management of a variety of viral diseases.
