Infection is one of the most common causes of diseases, and several of these infections have proved a pestilence. In the current scenario, the COVID-19 epidemic is the world’s deadliest infection, killing over 340,000 people as of May 2020, since being detected in December 2019. Due to the rapidly increasing number cases and deaths, the adopted of microbial identification methods is increasing around the world, to ascertain whether someone has the virus or not, and if not, which other microbe could be causing the symptoms.
In the coming years, the demand would increase the fastest for instruments and software, mainly as a result of the advancements in the microorganism-detecting technologies. For instance, the matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) method is becoming widely popular, as it is cost-effective, offers faster results, and requires less amounts of consumables. In the present times, when hundreds of people are being tested for COVID-19 at individual medical centers, such cheap and quick-analysis techniques could witness a swift rise in demand.
In the coming years, Asia-Pacific (APAC) would observe microbial identification market growth at the highest rate, on account of the rising incidence of infectious diseases here, primarily due to the booming population of the elderly.
This is simply because of the high prevalence of infectious diseases around the world, most of which are easily communicable to healthy people. Therefore, the infections need to be identified and treated as quickly as possible, to check the spread to other people. Similarly, food and beverage testing is also a prominent sector where microbes need to be detected. This is because of the stringent quality guidelines imposed on food and beverage companies, such as by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). These policies, coupled with the increasing awareness of people about food contamination, are leading to an increase in the adoption of microbe testing methods in this sector.
Therefore, due to the rising menace of infections, presently COVID-19, as well as the expansion of the biotech, pharma, and food and beverage sectors, the adoption of microbial identification methods will keep rising.
