Rapid Detection and Identification of Infectious Agents

Rapid Detection and Identification of Infectious Agents is a collection of papers presented at the International Symposium on Rapid Detection and Identification of Infectious Agents held on October 5-7, 1983, in Oakland, California, and organized by the Naval Biosciences Laboratory of the School of Public Health of the University of California at Berkeley. Contributors examine progress in the field of rapid diagnosis of infectious diseases, with a particular emphasis on DNA probe-based assays and monoclonal and polyclonal antibody-based immunoassays.
This volume is organized into five sections encompassing 20 chapters. It begins with an overview of state-of-the-art methods for rapid detection and identification of infectious agents, including technology that is currently applied in clinical microbiology, as well as concerns regarding the political and scientific climates, which have an impact on health care and clinical microbiology. Chapters are organized to deal with a single diagnostic type of test for a given broad group of organisms. The approach is to compare the strengths and weaknesses of each of the new diagnostic procedures, using the same type of clinical material whenever possible. The book gives consideration to the fundamental design of DNA probes and probe assay systems, the clinical comparison of immunologic assays for the diagnosis of meningococcal disease, and immunodiagnostics for viral and parasitic pathogens.
This book will be of value to scientists and researchers interested in immunology and infectious diseases, as well as the methods used to detect and identify them.

Contenu

Contributors
Preface
Immunodiagnostics: Viral and Parasitic Pathogens
Technological Advances in the Clinical Microbiology Laboratory: Sensitivity, Specificity, and Cost Effectiveness
Enzymatic Assays for the Diagnosis of Infectious Diseases
Viral Hepatitis-A Model for Rapid Diagnosis of Infectious Disease
Serodiagnosis of Herpes Simplex Virus and Cytomegalovirus Infection with Monoclonal Antibodies
Recent Developments on Diagnostic Methods for Toxoplasmosis and Chagas' Disease
Molecular Probes: Viral, Subviral, and Parasitic Pathogens
Defined Viral Probes for the Detection of HSV, CMV, and HPV
Aspects of Using Nucleic Acid Filter Hybridization to Characterize and Detect Enteroviral RNAs
Rapid Identification of Leishmania Species Using Specific Hybridization of Kinetoplast DNA Sequences
Detection of Viroids in Plants
Immunodiagnostics: Bacterial and Fungal Pathogens
Sensitive Homogeneous Enzyme Immunoassays for Microbial Antigens
Latex Agglutination Tests for the Rapid Diagnosis of Infectious Disease
Comparison of Immunoassays for Detection of Bacterial Antigens in Cerebrospinal Fluid from Meningitis Patients
Detection of Coccidioides immitis Infection by Enzyme Immunoassay
Molecular Probes: Bacterial and Fungal Pathogens
Selection of DNA Probes for Use in the Diagnosis of Infectious Disease
Rapid Detection of Mycoplasmas with DNA Probes
Synthesis and Detection of 3'-OH Terminal Biotin-Labeled DNA Probes
Chemiluminescent and Fluorescent Probes for DNA Hybridization Systems
Monoclonal Antibody Specific for Double-Stranded DNA: A Nonradioactive Probe Method for Detection of DNA Hybridization
Summary Presentations and Conclusions
Summary of DNA Probes
Immunodiagnostics in Clinical Microbiology
Concluding Remarks
Index