Diagnosis of Bacterial Infections; Traditional and Molecular Methods: A Narrative Study

Traditionally, diagnosis of the agents of infectious diseases is based on conventional or phenotypic methods. Due to the lack of growth of some infectious agents, these methods are very difficult or impossible for diagnosis of some bacteria. The advent of molecular techniques has more or less influences on the detection of microbial infections. This article addresses the advantages and disadvantages of diagnostic molecular and conventional methods in detecting pathogenic microorganisms. Traditional diagnostic methods such as phenotypic, chemical and serologic characteristics are still used for detection of infectious diseases. In addition to diagnosing the bacterial agents, varient molecular methods may also detect virulence factors and antimicrobial resistance genes at a higher rate, sensitivity and accuracy. It seems that the advanced molecular methods can reduce diagnosis time, mortality rate and costs of laboratory diagnosis, and shorten the duration of hospitalization.