In addition to diseases caused by epidemics, there are several emerging infectious diseases with the potential for significant public health consequences, including dengue fever, West Nile fever, and Rift Valley fever as well as the recent pandemic-COVID-19. Emerging Infectious agents like the highly contagious SARS-CoV-2 are found to be extremely contagious and can be transmitted by direct contact, through air or through contaminated surfaces.
While contagious diseases are reported to have been impacted by a number of factors like genetic variation, environmental changes, and population pressure, infectious diseases caused by microbes are always at the risk of being spread globally by tourists and travelers.
Due to the threat posed by infectious disease and new age stronger contagion, it has become essential for the scientific community to identify those pathogens in the clinical setting so as to cure the individuals who are at risk and to fine tune public health surveillance and epidemiology. As an answer to this issue, an array of strategies has been developed for use in clinical diagnostics and detection.
Over the past years, various technologies have been developed or brought into use to counter the challenges posed by these agents, which has allowed detection and identification in several minutes or within hours.
The development of improved and high-quality reagents and analyzers has led to dramatic improvements in the sensitivity and specificity of immunoassay systems, permitting an ever‑increasing range of analytes to be quantitated and identified. Current developments in molecular biology techniques have made possible, the production of fusion antibody conjugates, which translates to further improvements in the sensitivity and cost of reagents, as well as possibly revolutionizing the production of monoclonal antibodies.
At the same time, simple-to-use, economical, assay systems have been developed with the necessary reliability, accuracy, and sensitivity to bring immunoassay technology to much more diverse areas such as outpatient monitoring, large screening programs in developing countries, and remote environmental surveillance.
As a result of these ongoing improvements, immunoassays and immunology based technologies are now one of the most widely used analytical techniques in laboratory medicine adopting a vast repertoire of analytes that are analyzed by an increasingly diverse range of analyzers. Trivitron Healthcare’s state of the art immunological assays and high-quality reagents are one of the best examples that gives a glimpse into technological strides and applications of immunology in diagnostics.
Future Trends
Developments in immunological reagents and assay techniques are now being coupled with advancements in laboratory technology, varying from automated analyzers and microarrays that promote the evaluation of a large number of samples, to self-limited and efficient analyzers and microarrays that promote the analysis of large volume of samples, to self-contained miniaturized devices that enable an immunoassay to be performed at the point of care or in a field setting. Together, these novel reagents and technologies are likely to transform diagnostic medicine over the next decade as much as our recognition of the civilian public health threats posed by infectious agents and contaminants.
Given the fact that new and advanced assays and sensor formats will continue to evolve, antibodies shall always remain the critical component of an immunological test. Taking leverage of the utility of antibodies in immunological applications, various diagnostic kits like ELISA Tests Kits , have been developed which are extremely portable and has the potential to serve as a confirmatory diagnostic tool for various diseases.
Also, new age immunology analyzers shall advance making use of sophisticated components like the LDx R1 – ELISA Microplate Reader or the LDx W1 – ELISA Microplate Washer which guarantees accurate and prompt results.