Hybrid Capture™ — A Sensitive Signal-Amplified Test for the Detection and Quantitation of Human Viral and Bacterial Pathogens

Since the early 1970s, researchers have used nucleic acid detection techniques to identify either specific genes or organisms. These early nucleic acid detection methods were very time-consuming, cumbersome, isotopic, technically elaborate, and only moderately sensitive, and thus not suitable for routine clinical use (Southern, 1975). The first nonisotopic nucleic acid detection systems, developed in the late 1970s, were fairly specific but not as sensitive as their radioactive counterparts (Matthews and Kricka, 1988). To increase overall sensitivity, amplification methodologies have been developed and adapted to nonisotopic nucleic acid detection assays. The two most common amplification methods are target amplification (Mullis and Faloona, 1987) and signal amplification employing chemiluminescence (Pollard-Knight et al., 1990; Bronstein and Olesen, 1995).