An update of rapid diagnosis of infectious diseases. II--Virus

Diagnosis of viral infections has, until recently, been considered to be retrospective and epidemiological in nature, of little practical significance to patient management and a futile exercise as far as the clinician is concerned. Recent advances have enabled the development of new techniques and more sensitive and specific reagents and assays. These allow viral diagnosis to be made within one to two days of receipt of a patient's specimen, a time frame which permits meaningful management to be instituted since effective antiviral agents are now available and the epidemiology of many viral illnesses known.