Despite progress in medical science, including the development
of effective chemotherapies, infectious diseases continue
to affect millions of lives around the world, especially
in developing countries.1
Diagnosis is important not only for
the prescribing of effective drugs for appropriate patients
in adequate doses but also for preventing the evolution of
resistant microorganisms, which occurs by treating noninfected
people who show similar symptoms.2
Therefore, the
development of rapid, accurate, and sensitive diagnostic
methods for the identifi cation of pathogens is fundamental
for treating and controlling, or even eradicating, infectious
disease.