These symptoms should prompt you to see your doctor immediately. The earliest method of primary diagnosis of an infectious disease is a doctor's consultation-infectionist (in the absence of one, a therapist). The volume of diagnostic studies ("analyzes") depends on the correctness of the preliminary diagnosis. To examine a patient for the presence of an infectious disease, two large groups of specific methods are used:

1) Direct diagnostic methods (microbiological methods, PCR diagnostics, ELISA method with the determination of pathogen antigens). 2) Indirect methods (serological reactions for the detection of antibodies - ELISA, RA, RNGA, RPGA, RTGA, RN and others).

Direct diagnostic methods are aimed at identifying pathogens and their antigens. Microbiological studies are carried out with suspicion of bacterial and viral infections by sowing material from the patient on special nutrient media and a kind of growing colonies of pathogens in certain comfortable conditions for them. The advantage of such methods in identifying the pathogen itself, however, a number of studies are carried out for a long time - up to 10 days.

In this regard, PCR diagnostics came to the rescue - the determination of the antigens of pathogens (DNA, RNA). The advantage of PCR diagnostics is the high specificity of the method with the determination of even one nucleic acid molecule (DNA, RNA) in living or dead material.