Virology

 

´  A virus is a small pathogen that can only be see under a microscope. Viral infections are illnesses caused by viruses that use ones cells to make more copies of themselves.  The virus outbreaks of recent years, such as those from Zika, MERS-CoV, Swine influenza, SARS-CoV , SARS-CoV-2 and Mpox, illustrate the risk they pose, and the intensive research virology requires.

Virological techniques are:

´  Used to do research and used in the Labs to diagnose diseases.

´  The specificity  and sensitivity of an antibody (serological assays) for a particular antigen makes it a valuable tool for diagnostics

´  Sensitivity is the ability of a test to correctly identify those with the disease (true positive rate)

´  Specificity is the ability of the test to correctly identify those without the disease (true negative rate).

Virological techniques are:

´  Used for a precise identification of the ongoing or past infection helps to prevent transmission, prepare for outbreak response and to set up an appropriate control, and to monitor treatment.

´   Failure in diagnosis can lead to significant human and financial loss. 

´  Virus assays vary in approach, efficacy and cost. Besides performance parameters including accuracy, precision, sensitivity, and specificity which relate directly to the results, simplicity and ease in performing the tests are also important factors.

´  The Turnaround time which is the interval time between sample registration and result reporting, is also used as a key performance indicator. 

Virus handling need different containment levels also known to as biosafety levels. This depends on infectivity, severity of disease, transmissibility, and the nature of the work being conducted.

 

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