Pathogens (pathogens) are microorganisms (including bacteria, viruses, rickettsia, fungi), parasites, or other agents (microbial recombinants include hybrids or mutants) that can cause disease in humans or plants and animals.
The traditional gold standard method for pathogen detection is "smear microscopy + isolation culture method", but this method is time-consuming, bacterial culture generally takes 1-3 days, fungal culture generally takes 1-3 weeks, for the rapid onset of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, etc., it takes 1 month, but also has the microscopy and isolation culture methods are not easy for the pathogens typing detection, especially for acute infectious diseases in the clinic generally can not use this method to obtain test results before the consultation.
Digital PCR (ddPCR) does not require standard curve like traditional RT-qPCR. Moreover, the PCR reaction is partitioned into tens of thousands of small droplets, in which case PCR inhibitors have less effect on the sample and detection sensitivity is improved. This assay is particularly important in cases of low viral load, such as early or asymptomatic infection with SARS-CoV-2 virus.
