PCR Detection of Microbial Pathogens

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has become an increasingly important tool in microbial diagnosis in recent years, mainly because of its rapidity, high sensitivity, and specificity. In a number of instances, parti- larly with noncultivatable and slow-growing microorganisms, reliable iden- fication and differentiation became possible only after the introduction of PCR-based methods. Because the ...