Vol. 8 No. (1): 213 - 233 (2017): PROSPECTS OF THE USE MOLECULAR TOOLS IN THE CONTROL OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES

Molecular diagnostics continues to advance very rapidly, and its impact in the diagnosis of
infectious diseases is obvious and very effective. Molecular tools have played a pivotal role
in discovering and characterizing several emerging infectious agents and have now become
the gold standard for the diagnosis of infectious diseases caused by fastidious or sterile
agents. Multiple challenges still remain for the widespread use of cost-effective, validated,
and commercially available molecular tools. Automated instruments capable of sample
processing and multiplex nucleic acid amplification and post amplification analysis have
already been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in the
clinical setting. Nanobiotechnology is beginning to impact laboratory diagnostics in the
clinical setting.