Emerging Advances in Rapid Diagnostics of Respiratory Infections

Recent developments in rapid diagnostics for respiratory infections have mostly occurred in the areas of antigen and nucleic acid detection. Nucleic acid amplification tests have improved the ability to identify respiratory viruses in clinical specimens and have played pivotal roles in the rapid characterization of new viral pathogens. Antigen-detection assays in immunochromatographic or similar formats are most easily developed as near-patient tests, although they have been developed commercially only for a limited range of respiratory pathogens. New approaches for respiratory pathogen detection are needed, and breath analysis is an exciting area with enormous potential.