POC Diagnostics for Infectious Disease: From Lateral Flow to Molecular Platforms
This JCM review traces the evolution of point-of-care infectious disease diagnostics from lateral flow immunoassays to emerging molecular platforms that meet requirements for speed, low cost, and ease of use. The authors highlight how POC development is driven by the need to diagnose infections in settings with limited laboratory infrastructure, spanning both wealthy and resource-limited environments. The convergence of rapid reporting, expanding pathogen panels, and actionable results is reshaping clinical microbiology practice.
The original study
Point-of-Care Testing for Infectious Diseases: Past, Present, and Future.
- Authors
- Kozel TR, Burnham-Marusich AR
- Journal
- Journal of clinical microbiology
- Type
- Journal Article, Review
- PMID
- 28539345
Original abstract
Point-of-care (POC) diagnostics provide rapid actionable information for patient care at the time and site of an encounter with the health care system. The usual platform has been the lateral flow immunoassay. Recently, emerging molecular diagnostics have met requirements for speed, low cost, and ease of use for POC applications. A major driver for POC development is the ability to diagnose infectious diseases at sites with a limited infrastructure. The potential use in both wealthy and resource-limited settings has fueled an intense effort to build on existing technologies and to generate new technologies for the diagnosis of a broad spectrum of infectious diseases.