You’ve most likely taken an antibiotic at least once in your lifetime. From treatments for painful strep throat or ear infections as a child, to burning urinary tract infections or itchy skin infections, antibiotics are one of the most highly utilized and important medication classes we have. Soon, your doctor may have a new weapon in their arsenal to diagnose and target treatment: scientists at American University have developed a rapid, highly sensitive genetic test to determine whether bacteria carry a gene that causes resistance to two common antibiotics. Their research, published in BMC Infectious Diseases, demonstrated that the new test works as accurately as culture-based methods but gives results in minutes, not hours or days.
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