New technologies in Mycology: PCR for diagnosis

Molecular biology techniques are widely used in mycology. First of all they are used for confirmation of difficult or uncertain identifications. In this case PCR followed by ITS sequencing is generally used. For diagnostic purposes, PCR is mostly applied for the detection of invasive infections such as pneumocystosis, candidosis or aspergillosis. However these techniques (Candida and Aspergillus detection) are still not included in the recommandations given by EORTC by lack of standardisation. However, the development of new commercially available techniques, will probably change the diagnostic algorithm. New commercial PCR kits applied to the detection of dermatophytes are also recently available to the laboratories and they will be a good complement to culture-based diagnostic methods.