Application of Serology vs PCR in Infectious Disease Diagnosis, eg COVID-19
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Abstract
The word infection stands for invasion and multiplication of one or more pathogens. They cause infectious diseases in humans after establishing an entry into the human body through routes such as skin, mouth, nose, and genito-urinary tract. These infections can escalate into a level of a pandemic such as the current COVID-19 pandemic resulting in severe implications on health, economy, and social life worldwide. Therefore, early diagnosis has become vital to identifying, control, and eradicate these infections. Serological and molecular assays such as Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) have an advantage over conventional diagnostic methods such as culturing, microscopy due to higher specificity and sensitivity exhibited over detecting a large number of infectious diseases. PCR is classified as a direct diagnostic assay. It is a popular diagnostic assay in infectious disease diagnosis due to its multiple advantages such as high sensitivity, specificity, and rapid results. The arrival of real-time PCR is a great achievement in PCR technology and it increased the scope of infectious disease diagnosis. In COVID – 19 caused by SARS-COV 2 virus, diagnosis is carried out mainly by Reverse transcriptase PCR coupled with real-time quantification. Serology is the protein (Antibody) identification and is an indirect diagnosis method of infectious diseases that consists of conventional serological tests such as complement fixation, enzyme immunoassay tests, latex agglutination tests which are widely used and rapid tests include point of care tests. In this review, more emphasis will be made on the applications of serological assays and PCR in infectious disease diagnosis.
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