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Previous Volume 349:2162-2163 November 27, 2003 Number 22 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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The failure to achieve a rapid and reliable means of diagnosing most infectious diseases remains a frustrating testimony to the diversity of pathogens and the complexity of human–microbe interactions. With the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome so recently contained, we need few reminders that inadequate diagnostics have profound implications for the control of infections, or lack thereof, and use (or misuse) of antibiotics. Strategies for microbial detection and diagnosis either target the agent directly or rely on the host's response to the agent. The problem is that most of the commonly used diagnostic methods, such as cultivation of the . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Source Information

From Stanford University Medical Center, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.

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