Posted on 09/21/2013 1:47:30 AM PDT by neverdem
A blood test developed by Duke University researchers will help doctors learn whether a patient's infection is caused by a virus or bacteria.
A blood test developed by researchers at Duke University can predict with tremendous accuracy whether someone with, say, pneumonia has a viral or bacterial infection, even if it's a previously unknown strain.
The test, described today in the journal Science Translational Medicine, could someday help stop the unnecessary prescribing of antibiotics to patients who have viral infections.
Although the study's authors say the timing of their report is coincidental, on Monday the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told reporters that something must be done to curtail the inappropriate use of antibiotics. The practice has led to emerging bacterial strains that are resistant to all known drugs.
“The timing of the CDC report regarding the overuse of antibiotics and our results is really amazing,” said Dr. Christopher Woods, an infectious disease researcher at the Institute for Genome Sciences at Duke's School of Medicine in Durham, N.C.
The CDC director announced that 23,000 Americans per year die of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections. “That's a small drop compared to what happens globally,” Woods said...
(Excerpt) Read more at healthline.com ...
Genetic test fingers viral, bacterial infections: Method could help doctors treat children's fevers
Alas, my illness is political; I need only check the newspapers to understand it.
On the plus side, it abates every eight years - until the next outbreak.
Make it a home test and tens of billions in needless ER and doctor visits could be avoided.
This is an example of what will NEVER happen under Obamacare.
There will be NO medical experimentation, none. When was the last major medical break through that came from the medical gulags in Europe? “Sorry comrade doctor, there is no money for your research; see it’s right here in the bill.”
...could someday help stop the unnecessary prescribing of antibiotics to patients who have viral infections.
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I was told once by a physician that, even though antibiotics cannot kill a virus, they are sometimes useful during a viral infection to stop the work of opportunistic bacteria.
Engineered bacterium hunts down pathogens
FReepmail me if you want on or off my combined microbiology/immunology ping list.
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