Molecular diagnosis of respiratory virus infections

The appearance of eight new respiratory viruses, including the SARS coronavirus in 2003 and swine-origin influenza A/H1N1 in 2009, in the human population in the past nine years has tested the ability of virology laboratories to develop diagnostic tests to identify these viruses. Nucleic acid based amplification tests (NATs) for respiratory viruses were first introduced two decades ago and today are utilized for the detection of both …