title: Molecular diagnostics of atypical pneumonia.
abstract: The emergence of nucleic acid-based molecular techniques has significantly enhanced laboratory diagnosis and monitoring of atypical pneumonia. These techniques have not only provided rapid and sensitive detection of fastidious microbial organisms but have also played critical roles in identifying and characterizing emerging pathogens that cause atypical pneumonia. Other benefits that molecular techniques can bring to the field include organism differentiation, quantitation, typing, and antibiotic resistance profiles. Gradually becoming standardized and widely available, the future will see some promising molecular methods become a mainstay in clinical laboratories for recognition and diagnosis of atypical pneumonia pathogens.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Molecular Infectious Disease Laboratory, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, TN 37232, USA. yiwei.tang@vanderbilt.edu
authors.forename: Yi-Wei
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Tang
mesh_terms: D002689:Chlamydia / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D008828:Microbiological Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D018410:Pneumonia, Bacterial / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000821:virology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D018113:Respiratory Syncytial Virus, Human / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D045473:Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification