A team of microbiologists from the Hospital Universitario Nuestra Señora de Candelaria, a center affiliated with the Canary Islands Government's Health Department, has created a groundbreaking diagnostic system. This method, which analyzes genetic material, can identify the most dangerous variants of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in just a few hours.
This advancement will enable medical professionals to act more quickly and precisely when prescribing medication or treatments. The accelerated identification of bacteria causing a patient's pathology is crucial, especially for multiresistant bacteria, which do not respond even to 'last resort' antibiotics.
Previously, laboratories could take several days to determine the type of bacteria, delaying the start of drug administration and the implementation of isolation measures for high-risk variants. The new system, inspired by the PCR tests used for COVID-19, significantly simplifies this process.
The test, published in the scientific journal Clinical Microbiology and Infection, demonstrated one hundred percent accuracy with sixty samples from real patients. It successfully differentiated various strains without generating any false positives, offering an economical, rapid, and accessible alternative for real-time outbreak surveillance, protecting vulnerable patients, and guiding more effective antibiotic treatments.
