DNA Methods in Clinical Microbiology

This work describes the novel DNA-based technology now used in the diagnosis and management of infectious diseases. It is a concise, yet readable, overview written primarily for clinicians, clinical microbiologists, medical students and undergraduates in medical and veterinary microbiology. The book has two primary aims. First, to explain the principles of these methods at the "molecular" level. Second, to provide a clinical perspective by reporting results from actual DNA-based investigations on a range of specimens. Those approaching DNA methods for the first time are assisted by a brief resume of the relevant features of nucleic acids (Chapter 2) - this information is essential for an understanding of later chapters. Subsequent text covers detection, characterization and quantification of pathogens by a variety of methods, for example, target amplification (PCR, LCR, NASBA, TMA and SDA), signal amplification (bDNA) and probe-based techniques; the chapter on typing describes nearly 20 named molecular methods, including spoligotyping and MLST.