Advancing Brucellosis Diagnosis: Evaluating PCR Techniques and Emerging Technologies for Improved Detection

Brucellosis is a globally important zoonotic disease caused by members of the genus Brucella, affecting humans, livestock, wildlife, and aquatic or other animal reservoirs. Its control is complicated by the intracellular lifestyle of the pathogen, variable bacterial loads, asymptomatic or chronic infections, cross-reactivity in serological assays, and the need to distinguish vaccination, exposure, and active infection. Conventional culture remains an important reference method but can be slow, technically demanding, and associated with occupational and biosafety concerns. Serological tests are widely used, but their performance may vary according to host species, disease stage, antigenic cross-reactivity, and epidemiological setting. These limitations highlight the need for sensitive, specific, rapid, and standardised diagnostic approaches suitable for clinical, veterinary, surveillance, food-safety, and environmental applications.Molecular methods, particularly conventional PCR, quantitative PCR, multiplex PCR, and reverse-transcription-independent nucleic acid amplification strategies, have improved the detection and identification of Brucella DNA in diverse sample types. However, differences in target selection, extraction procedures, sample quality, assay design, analytical sensitivity, contamination control, and validation criteria continue to affect comparability between studies. Emerging technologies, including digital PCR, isothermal amplification, CRISPR-based detection, metagenomic sequencing, nanopore sequencing, biosensors, microfluidic platforms, and artificial intelligence-assisted analysis, may further improve diagnostic performance and enable decentralised or point of care testing. Nevertheless, their clinical and field utility requires rigorous assessment against established reference methods, across relevant host species and sample matrices, and under realistic epidemiological conditions.This Research Topic aims to advance the development, evaluation, validation, and implementation of PCR based and emerging technologies for brucellosis detection. We welcome studies investigating diagnostic accuracy, analytical performance, assay standardisation, pathogen differentiation, genomic surveillance, and the translation of innovative methods into clinical, veterinary, wildlife, food-safety, and public-health settings. Particular interest will be given to research linking diagnostic results with bacterial load, disease stage, epidemiological context, antimicrobial or vaccination status, and transmission risk. To gather further insights into improved detection and surveillance of Brucella infections, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:- Development and validation of conventional PCR, qPCR, multiplex PCR, and digital PCR assays for Brucella detection- Selection and evaluation of molecular targets for species, biovar, strain, and vaccine-strain differentiation- Sample preparation, nucleic acid extraction, and assay performance across clinical, veterinary, wildlife, food, and environmental matrices- Isothermal amplification, CRISPR-based diagnostics, biosensors, microfluidics, and other rapid or point-of-care technologies- Metagenomic, whole-genome, and nanopore sequencing approaches for detection, confirmation, and epidemiological surveillance- Comparative evaluation of molecular, culture-based, and serological methods, including diagnostic sensitivity, specificity, reproducibility, and predictive value- Detection of low-burden, chronic, latent, or mixed infections and the assessment of challenging or contaminated samples- Quality assurance, reference materials, external validation, interlaboratory studies, and harmonisation of diagnostic protocols- Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and computational tools for diagnostic interpretation, assay design, and outbreak detection- Integration of diagnostic results with genomic, epidemiological, veterinary, One Health, and public-health surveillance data- Diagnostic applications supporting outbreak investigation, animal health, food safety, disease control, and brucellosis eradication programmes Topic editors: Duraipandian Thavaselvam, Jinhui Lu, Dianpeng Han Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/84479/advancing-brucellosis-diagnosis-evaluating-pcr-techniques-and-emerging-technologies-for-improved-detection