Mass Spectrometric Rapid Diagnosis of Infectious Diseases

摘要

This report describes the second and final phase of a research program aimed at the utilization of multicomponent analysis by non-fragmenting mass spectrometry for diagnosis of infectious diseases. During this phase it has been demonstrated that metabolic profiles of the host can be used to identify infected subjects, to differentiate between patients with different infections, to detect a viral infection piror to the onset of clinical symptoms, and to demonstrate the existence of a viral infection some time after the clinical symptoms have subsided. Further, it has been demonstrated that mass spectrometric multicomponent analysis can be a highly useful tool in the clinical laboratory by detecting the presence of a virus through its effect on the metabolism of tissue cultured cells. A diagnostic biochemical pattern seems to be distinguishable within a few hours, which is significantly faster than by the presently used morphological changes. Also, new sample preparation techniques, instrumentation, and computerized statistical analysis have been developed during this phase of the program.