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Review
. 2023 Jul 20;61(7):e0023121.
doi: 10.1128/jcm.00231-21. Epub 2023 May 24.

Direct-from-Blood Detection of Pathogens: a Review of Technology and Challenges

Linoj Samuel  1
Affiliations
Review

Direct-from-Blood Detection of Pathogens: a Review of Technology and Challenges

Linoj Samuel. J Clin Microbiol. .

Abstract

Blood cultures have been the staple of clinical microbiology laboratories for well over half a century, but gaps remain in our ability to identify the causative agent in patients presenting with signs and symptoms of sepsis. Molecular technologies have revolutionized the clinical microbiology laboratory in many areas but have yet to present a viable alternative to blood cultures. There has been a recent surge of interest in utilizing novel approaches to address this challenge. In this minireview, I discuss whether molecular tools will finally give us the answers we need and the practical challenges of incorporating them into the diagnostic algorithm.

Keywords: PCR; blood culture; next-generation sequencing; sepsis.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare a conflict of interest. The author has received grants/travel funding from Specific Diagnostics Inc and fees/travel funding from bioMerieux Inc.

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