Diagnostic methods pathogen detection

Table 11.6 Diagnostic and pathogen detection methods for OIE listed (and recently de-listed) viral diseases of penaeid shrimp (modified from Lightner 2005 Lightner et al. 2009 OIE 2009a)...

The piezoelectric transducer is suitable for DNA and protein detection with a detection limit of 1 ng cm (Nirschl et al., 2009). The piezoelectric sensor has been used in various applications such as cholera toxin diagnostic detection, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and food-borne pathogen detection (Skladal et al., 2004 Serra et al., 2008 Chen et al., 2008). The piezoelectric transducer is a very sensitive method, noting that a detection limit of... 

Table 5.1 Rapid diagnostic methods reported for the detection and identification of pathogens causing disease in finfish, molluscs and crustaceans...

Nucleic acids are also valuable as diagnostic reagents. In combination with the recently developed amplification method, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), nucleic acid probes allow the detection of trace amounts of a specified nucleic acid sequence. Thus, the presence of the DNA of pathogens can be ascertained with great sensitivity and rapidity. Further, these tools permit the analysis and the detection of gene defects in individual patients, and aid in the tailoring of therapeutic strategies. These applications are discussed in Chapter 8. 

PCR can provide valuable diagnostic information in medicine. Bacteria and viruses can be readily detected with the use of specific primers. For example, PCR can reveal the presence of human immunodeficiency virus in people who have not mounted an immune response to this pathogen and would therefore be missed with an antibody assay. Finding Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacilli in tissue specimens is slow and laborious. With PCR, as few as 10 tubercle bacilli per million human cells can be readily detected. PCR is a promising method for the early detection of certain cancers. This technique can identify mutations of certain growth-control genes, such as the ras genes (Section 15.4 2). The... 

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