One of the scourges of modern medicine is the over-prescription of antibiotics. The more they are used, the more chances are made for target organisms to develop resistance. ( as well as other bacteria that live alongside them) Hence the current crisis. Everyone agrees we should be saving our last antibiotics for when they are really, really needed, not just throwing them at every random infection presented in the Doctor’s surgery on a rainy Monday morning.
A typical example is infections of the urinary tract, as James Gallagher explains for the BBC. [1] It’s never easy to know whether one of these is bacterial or viral. And currently it can take three days to find out. Yet the risk of an untreated bacterial infection is so high, the consequences so grave, that Doctors have to prescribe antibiotics, just in case. Of course, if it turns out to be viral. the antibiotics are useless, and the risk of adding more resistant bacteria to the ecosystem has just been ratcheted up again.. If only there was a way of cutting diagnostic time!
Well some Swedish researchers seem to have done just that. Their new test seems to have cut the time to answer the question “is this an antibiotic-treatable infection?” down to 45 minutes. James waxes lyrical, with the aid of some excellent graphics. Even more encouraging, the system is now being marketed by a pioneering firm called Sysmex Astrego [2] which suggests a strongly robust, repeatable test which could be rolled out in the millions. Billions, even? There’s lots of good news here, and we hope that all involved enjoy their Longitude Prize. If anyone deserves a little celebration, it is surely they.
[1]https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crggj9led0no
[2]https://www.sysmex-astrego.se/
#antibiotic resistance #medicine #bacteria fungi virus #superbug
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