Fast test reveals drug-resistant bacteria
Time-lapse photography reduces 16-hour test to 4 hours
A new test quickly reveals whether bacteria are vulnerable to antibiotics, researchers report in the Dec. 17 Science Translational Medicine. They used time-lapse photography to see whether individual bacteria cells divide or change shape.
To choose the right antibiotics to treat a patient with a bacterial infection, doctors must determine which drugs the bacteria are sensitive to. Using traditional tests, doctors expose a sample of bacteria to antibiotics and wait 16 to 20 hours. If the cell culture darkens, it is full of bacteria dividing, uninhibited by the drug.