Rapid Detection and Identification of Bacterial Pathogens Using Novel Molecular Technologies: Infection Control and Beyond

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Abstract
In the movie Top Gun Tom Cruise's character, Pete Mitchell (otherwise known as “Maverick”), remarks “I feel the need ... the need for speed.” This is a sentiment felt by many infectious diseases clinicians and clinical microbiologists, particularly when confronted with a patient who is seriously ill, getting progressively worse, and for whom an infectious etiology has yet to be identified. The need for speed also is a factor when (1) a physician awaits the results of standardized antimicrobial susceptibility testing for an infectious agent that has been isolated from a patient whose condition is deteriorating clinically (despite receipt of empirical therapy) and (2) an infection control practitioner awaits the results of tests to determine whether a patient is colonized or infected with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) or vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) and requires isolation. It is in these types of situations that molecular diagnostic methods can provide the data needed more rapidly and, in many cases, more cost effectively than traditional culture methods.

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