Two molecular in vitro diagnostic assays that utilize isothermal reactions to detect toxigenic C. difficile are accurate, yet “fast” and “relatively simple to use” compared to most of the PCR-based assays, according to a study published in the August issue of Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Disease. The data shows that AmpliVue (Quidel) and Illumigene (Meridian Biosciences) can be used in diverse laboratory settings with both adult and pediatric patient populations. Reliable and quick detection of the presence (or absence) of C. diff toxin genes in stool samples, can result in faster initiation of the proper treatment of patients and initiation of infection control measures to prevent the spread of the disease, especially in health care environments. While there has been growing interest in the sensitivity of molecular assays for the diagnosis of C. diff infections, most of the early U.S. Food and Drug Administration-cleared nucleic acid amplification tests require extraction of genomic material on a separate instrument followed by amplification using thermocyclers. While these are an improvement over the gold standard diagnostic method of cytoxigenic culture, diagnostics involving isothermal reactions may achieve similar performance in a relatively simple test format, compared to polymerase chain reaction- (PCR-) based assays. In the […]