Molecular diagnosis of atypical pneumonias

Choice of antibiotics for therapy of atypical pneumonia is usually empirical since standard laboratory methods are relatively insensitive and/or slow to perform. Antimicrobial agent prescribed is usually of a too wide spectrum or we use a combination therapy of two antibiotics. Detection of Mycoplasma pneumoniae and Chlamydia pneumoniae as etiologic agents of pneumonia is very important since it determines the choice of a specific class of antimicrobial agents. At present diagnosis of infection with atypical bacteria is made by serological testing which gives results too late to be used in patient management in acute stage of the disease. Bacterial isolation methods are also slow and technically very demanding so they are not used routinelly. With employment of molecular biology techniques (PCR - polymerase chain reaction) we would like to be able to execute a speedy diagnosis of atypical pathogens. At the same time we would like to get an usefull tool to evaluate the diagnostic value of commercial serological tests.