Detection of Biological Warfare Pathogens by Rare Event Imaging

Abstract : The standard methods for the detection and identification of pathogens require that either a sufficient amount of such pathogens are present or that these pathogens are grown under selective conditions. These procedures are time consuming and inadequate in many situations. The objective of this project was to establish a rapid and extremely sensitive method to detect and identify BW pathogens in our environment and in human body fluids using the revolutionary approach of Rare Event Imaging. During the grant period different immunofluorescence and fluorescence in situ hybridization based protocols were developed for the sensitive and specific detection of pathogens. The Rare Event Imaging System (REIS) was adopted to be able to detect the fluorescently labeled rare cells fast and reliably. Simultaneous enumeration of multiple pathogens was achieved with the REIS. The utility of the fully automated REIS approach in clinical diagnostics was shown with using the Cytomegalovirus antigenemia assay.