MassTag Polymerase Chain Reaction for Differential Diagnosis of Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers

Abstract

Viral hemorrhagic fevers are associated with high rates of illness and death. Although therapeutic options are limited, early differential diagnosis has implications for containment and may aid in clinical management. We describe a diagnostic system for rapid, multiplex polymerase chain reaction identification of 10 different causes of viral hemorrhagic fevers.

Keywords

• Mass spectroscopy
• PCR
• multiplex
• viral hemorrhagic fever
• differential diagnosis
• infectious diseases