Molecular Detection of Multiple Respiratory Viruses

This chapter discusses the molecular detection of multiple respiratory viruses. Respiratory infections are very common. They are responsible for significant morbidity and mortality and are costly in terms of lost time from work, inappropriate use of antibiotics, and lengthy hospital stays. Laboratory detection of causative agents can influence treatment and allow appropriate infection control measures, potentially saving time and money, promoting quicker recovery for the patient, and lowering the risk of nosocomial transmission of the organism. Molecular testing may be the most sensitive method of detecting respiratory viruses. These methods have been shown to detect multiple viruses in a single sample more often than any of the other methods described and, in addition, can detect viruses that are difficult or impossible to grow. The detection of nonviable organisms may provide additional insight into disease but provides its own challenges in terms of determining clinical significance of positive results. Like many areas of clinical medicine and microbiology, the increasing use of molecular diagnostics for detection of respiratory viruses raises many new questions for the laboratory and the clinical diagnostician, but also promises many benefits as these methods become increasingly available for routine use.