Assessing Molecular Diagnostic Accuracy for Infectious Diseases in Emergency Departments

Molecular diagnostic methods have transformed the diagnosis and management of infectious diseases with rapid, sensitive and specific pathogen identification. The paper is an evaluation of the validity of different molecular diagnostic techniques, such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR), real-time PCR (qPCR), loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), next-generation sequencing (NGS) and emerging molecular technologies, in national laboratories. Significant assessment parameters including sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive, reproducibility, reliability and limit of detection were evaluated to assess their diagnostic capabilities. The challenges that were encountered to affect the accuracy were evaluated which include technical problems, operational problems, and also the biological problems as well as the methodological concerns in the sample collection, laboratory procedures, and the analysis of the data. The paper reveals the relative advantages and flaws of both methods and gives suggestions on how to enhance the diagnostic accuracy by using standard procedures, quality assurance, employee education, and incorporation of new technologies. Effective infectious disease surveillance, response to outbreaks timely as well as enhanced patient care depends on strengthening of molecular diagnostic accuracy.