New phenotypic methods can help identify the best antibiotic to treat sepsis, UTIs, and other bacterial infections.
When a patient comes into the hospital with sepsis, doctors begin treatment with a broad-spectrum antibiotic before knowing the microorganism at play and before knowing which antibiotics can kill it. There just isn’t time to wait.
This scenario plays out again and again with bacterial infections, particularly in life-threatening situations. Once doctors identify the bacteria causing the infection and the most effective antibiotics to treat it, they then tweak the drug type and its dosage, if needed. But before then, the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics, or the wrong antibiotic, can fuel the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
The standard way to…