The current state of viral diagnostics for respiratory infections.

Rapidly determining the viral etiology of respiratory infections leads to more effective treatment and prevention. Traditional tests to diagnose respiratory viruses include cell culture, serology, and antigen detection assays. These methods differ in cost, time to results, and technical difficulty. Nucleic acid amplification tests such as PCR are more sensitive than the traditional assays and provide results quickly, while DNA microarrays offer a powerful method for the discovery of novel respiratory viruses.