New ways to detect emergent viruses

In a recently published review dedicated to the diagnostics of viral infections, a Russian research team featuring MIPT (Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology) researchers is the first to systematically describe and summarize the cutting-edge technologies available. A number of new effective methods of virus detection have been developed over the past few years, including those targeted at unknown pathogens. The authors described the so-called high-throughput next-generation sequencing as a potent new approach. The method promises to revolutionize the detection and analysis of new pathogenic viruses, but it will be at least several years until it is introduced into mainstream clinical practice. “There are, by various statistical estimations, over 320,000 viruses that can infect mammals,” explains MIPT’s Kamil Khafizov. “To date, less than 1% of this vast multitude has been studied.” Most viruses, including those that cause respiratory, digestive, and other diseases in humans, remain unresearched and thus almost undetectable. The reason behind this is the narrow spectrum of viruses that the modern testing systems are designed to target. “Metaphorically, we are attempting to look at a vast sea of threats through the eye of a needle,” the authors write in the review. Among other things, they explore the shortcomings of the polymerase chain reaction method. This essential technique for microorganism molecular testing fails to identify poorly exp...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Coronavirus Source Type: blogs