Molecular testing: Technology that is improving the diagnosis of infectious diseases

A new technology for diagnosing and quantifying a wide variety of infectious diseases has been introduced at Aga Khan University Hospital. Molecular testing, a technique used to analyse the specifics of a patient and their disease offers the prospect of personalised medicine which is a major advancement in diagnosis capability for clinical laboratories.

This technology is suitable for diagnosing infectious diseases such as gonorrhea, chlamydia, Herpes viruses, Dengue, TB, and many others, giving results that are more timely and accurate than before.

Rodney Adam, a Professor at Aga Khan University Hospital’s Pathology Department in charge of Molecular testing, said, “Molecular technology has changed the way clinical laboratories identify and manage many infectious diseases.  For organisms, or viruses that are difficult to grow in the laboratory, or grow slowly, molecular testing provides a quick way of obtaining an accurate diagnosis, which is frequently available within a day. Viruses that may take weeks to grow in a specialised laboratory can now be identified the same day through molecular testing.”

“In order for the Hospital to carry out a full range of molecular tests, we have installed three new machines in the Pathology Department. The technique is also used to diagnose and monitor diseases, detect risks, and decide which therapies will work best for individual patients during treatment.”

“In addition to infectious diseases diagnosis, we have also introduced a test used to measure the response to treatment in a patient with cancer of the blood and bone marrow (chronic myelogeneous leukemia).”

Professor Adam further noted that plans were underway to introduce additional molecular tests in the future.  These will include tests for diagnosing infectious diseases such as respiratory viral and bacterial infections as well as intestinal infections.

“We also plan to introduce molecular tests for a variety of cancers to the excellent capacity already present in the laboratory for tumour diagnosis and classification.” he added.

The hospital's laboratory is open every day of the week and runs for 24 hours each day.