In the last decade, the development and application of molecular techniques has revolutionised the diagnosis and monitoring of human diseases. Nucleic acids techniques, such as microbial DNA genotyping, analysis of restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR), are making progress in medical diagnostic laboratories. Sequence analysis of amplified DNA allows better identification of pathogen, detection of mutant genes and more accurate prognosis of certain diseases.
Molecular method B and techniques used in diagnosis and epidemiology or infections caused by pathogenic fungi. In this paper we reviewed the latest literature on molecular techniques used in diagnosis and epidemiology of infections caused by pathogenic fungi. Traditional methods used for the identification and typing of medically relevant fungi include morphological and biochemical analysis. These methods are time-consuming and base on phenotypic features what makes them unreliable. We described the usefulness in mycological studies of fast and very sensitive molecujar methods which rely on PCR and hybridization techniques.
A new data from investigations on Pneumocystis carinii were presented as well as an application of molecular techniques to the diagnosis of P. carinii pneumonia.