Trudy O. Messmer

TL;DR: Serological testing, culture, DNA amplification, and tissue diagnostics are reviewed, and standardized definitions for "acute infection" and "past exposure" are proposed, and the use of single immunoglobulin G titers for determining acute infection and IgA for determining chronic infection are discouraged.

TL;DR: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention developed, optimized, and rapidly qualified an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies to Bacillus anthracis protective antigen (PA) in human serum that proved valuable for the confirmation of cases of cutaneous and inhalational anthrax and evaluation of patients in whom the diagnosis of anthrax was being considered.

TL;DR: A nested, multiplex PCR for simultaneous detection of three species of chlamydiae in human and avian specimens was developed and used to infer that C. psittaci had been transmitted from birds purchased in pet stores to humans.

TL;DR: The usefulness of conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays, lytA, psaA, and two primer sets from the ply gene, for accuracy in the discrimination of nontypeable Streptococcus pneumoniae from closely related atypical streptococci is determined.

TL;DR: The objective is to determine the causes of an outbreak of lobar pneumonia and to establish a vaccination protocol to protect against future outbreaks.