Laboratory Diagnostics

This module deals with the principles underlying the effective use of diagnostic methods for pathogen diagnosis and disease surveillance. It includes the collection of appropriate samples suitable for testing; the selection of transport media; the handling, despatch and storage of samples; the principles of biosafety and risk assessment; the approach to the validation and quality assurance of diagnostic assays for infectious diseases; the criteria for selecting a diagnostic test and evaluation of a test in terms of the confidence that can be put on the test result; the interpretation of test results with the emphasis on serological tests.