id	author	title	date	pages	extension	mime	words	sentences	flesch	summary	cache	txt
cord-021402-wq770ik9	Relford, Roberta L.	New Diagnostic Tools for Infectious Disease	2009-05-15		.txt	text/plain	3166	157	36	The most common laboratory methodologies used to identify an infectious agent include visualization of the organism via cytology/biopsy, isolation of the agent in microbiological culture, immunodiagnostics/serology, and nucleic acid technology. Fluorescent antibody and immunoblot assays are performed in commercial laboratories, whereas numerous patient-side rapid ELISA and latex agglutination kits are available for antigen detection. Until the introduction of nucleic acid amplification by the PCR, detection of an organism's DNA or RNA often was impossible because of the small amount of antigen present in a sample. In the ELISA and IFA antibody assays, a specific antigen from the infectious agent in question is fixed to a solid surface (microtiter plate or glass slide, respectively) and the patient's serum is added. The SVN assay evaluates the ability of antibodies in a patient's serum to prevent the infection of culture cells or embryonated eggs with a known specific virus.	./cache/cord-021402-wq770ik9.txt	./txt/cord-021402-wq770ik9.txt