Nucleic Acid-Based Approaches for Detection of Viral Hepatitis

CONTEXT: To determining suitable nucleic acid diagnostics for individual viral hepatitis agent, an extensive search using related keywords was done in major medical library and data were collected, categorized, and summarized in different sections. RESULTS: Various types of molecular biology tools can be used to detect and quantify viral genomic elements and analyze the sequences. These molecular assays are proper technologies for rapidly detecting viral agents with high accuracy, high sensitivity, and high specificity. Nonetheless, the application of each diagnostic method is completely dependent on viral agent. CONCLUSIONS: Despite rapidity, automation, accuracy, cost-effectiveness, high sensitivity, and high specificity of molecular techniques, each type of molecular technology has its own advantages and disadvantages.