ABSTRACT
Rapid and specific detection of a single organism or a very low number of microorganisms is a continuing challenge in the bioanalytical sciences. Refining the detection to be selective for viable organisms introduces a further level of difficulty into an already arduous analytical problem. Medical microbiology, food testing, pharmaceutical quality control, and biological warfare detection all share a need for methods that would detect one or a few microorganisms. In medical microbiology, rapid diagnosis of infection is important for the timely administration of appropriate therapeutic measures and isolation of infectious patients. Safety of the food supply requires real-time monitoring of raw and processed food materials. Likewise, microbiological contamination of pharmaceutical preparations must be accurately assessed during production and storage. Finally, the threat of biological warfare and terrorist attacks involving biological warfare agents requires rapid and accurate identification of potentially harmful agents in the battlefield or in a domestic environment.
