The potential advantages of digital PCR for clinical virology diagnostics

Digital PCR (dPCR), a new nucleic acid amplification technology, offers several potential advantages over real-time or quantitative PCR (qPCR), the current workhorse of clinical molecular virology diagnostics. Several studies have demonstrated dPCR assays for human cytomegalovirus or HIV, which give more precise and reproducible results than qPCR assays without sacrificing sensitivity. Here we review the literature comparing dPCR and qPCR performance in viral molecular diagnostic assays and offer perspective on the future of dPCR in clinical virology diagnostics.