[Modern procedures in detecting viral antigens]

Besides serology and virus isolation, assays for the detection of viral antigens or nucleic acids are of increasing importance in routine diagnosis of viral infectious diseases. Critical steps, however, are the selection of suitable assays and specimens. With respect to clinical diagnosis, novel ultrasensitive methods for in vitro DNA amplification like polymerase chain reaction or ligase chain reaction are of high diagnostic significance e.g. for the demonstration of herpes simplex virus DNA in CSF samples or hepatitis C virus in patient sera.