In Practice 26: 325-330 (2004)
© 2004 British Veterinary Association

Demystifying diagnostic testing: non-culture techniques for large animal infectious disease

MOLECULAR biological methods have become increasingly applicable to the diagnosis of infectious disease. To become widely used, the methods need to be easy, safe, sensitive, reproducible and eventually automated to facilitate the evaluation of large numbers of samples. Antigens (generally proteins) or nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) can be detected in samples to provide evidence of infection with specific organisms. These types of approach are considered in this article. Alternatively, the organism may be cultured or products of the immune system that have been produced in response to infection, such as antibodies or cytokines, may be detected.

Note:

The author would like to thank colleagues at the VLA who have provided illustrations and commented on the manuscript. These include Graham David, John Jones, Jason Sawyer, Andrew Soldan and Yvonne Spencer.