Resistance New rapid test shows which antibiotic is still effective

Antibiotic Resistance: Quick test helps in the allocation of the "right" drug

The increase in antibiotic resistance is posing a growing challenge for healthcare. When such drugs stop working, even small infections can become a major risk. German researchers have now developed a novel rapid test, which provides information on which antibiotic is still effective in a specific case within a very short time.

Dangerous increase of antibiotic resistance

Multidrug-resistant bacteria are a growing threat. The massive and often unnecessary use of antibiotics means that more and more pathogens are insensitive to drugs. Only last year, an EU Commission warned of massively increasing antibiotic resistance. If the problem is not brought under control soon, according to researchers threatens a horror scenario. Thus, according to an older study by the Berlin Charité, there could be around ten million deaths by multi-resistant germs by 2050. Previously treatable infections can be life-threatening. A new test could help reduce the spread of drug resistance in the future.

The massive use of antibiotics means that more and more pathogens are resistant to drugs. A new rapid test can provide information on which antibiotic is still effective within a very short time. This is how he should help to curb the spread of resistance. (Image: nenetus / fotolia.com)

Faster diagnostics save lives

As the Leibniz Institute for Photonic Technologies (Leibniz-IPHT) writes in a recent communication, a novel rapid test within three and a half hours can provide information about which available antibiotic is still effective in this particular case.

Faster diagnostics enable personalized therapy and save lives.

According to the experts, a targeted, economical and responsible use of (broad-spectrum and reserve) antibiotics is a prerequisite to curb the spread of resistance.

In standard procedures, it sometimes takes three days to get the result

Scientists of the Leibniz Institute for Photonic Technologies (Leibniz-IPHT), the Center for Sepsis Control and Care of the Jena University Hospital and the Friedrich Schiller University Jena are working on a fast, cost-effective alternative to previously time-intensive microbiological pathogen diagnostics.

"We combine light-based analysis methods with microfluidic sample processing. With our lab-on-a-chip system, ie a miniaturized laboratory, we can clearly identify bacterial strains and their resistances in less than three and a half hours, "says project leader Prof. Ute Neugebauer, explaining the advantage of the new approach.

Standard procedures for infection diagnostics sometimes take 72 hours to obtain a reliable result.

Among other things, this is because the number of pathogens in a patient sample is far too low to be able to carry out tests. Only after a time-consuming cultivation an analysis is possible.

Physicians often have to "blind" to antibiotics

Especially in clinical use, in the treatment of severe infections, e.g. in sepsis, time is a deciding factor.

Intensive care physicians are faced with a worrying dilemma: "Far too often we have to 'blindly' treat broad-spectrum antibiotics, as we can determine neither the pathogen nor any existing resistances," says Prof. Michael Bauer, Director of the Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine at the University Hospital Jena.

"That's why we may shoot sparrows with cannons. A vicious circle that favors the emergence of new resistance. "

Basis for a reliable therapy decision

A significantly faster diagnosis as the basis for a reliable therapy decision is provided by the new procedure from Jena.

Ute Neugebauer, who works at the Leibniz-IPHT and the University Hospital Jena, points to tiny electrodes that are attached to the surface of the roughly postage stamp-sized chip: "Here, electric fields fix the bacteria in a very small area."

Trapped there, the Jena researchers bring the pathogens into contact with various antibiotics in different concentrations and examine them using Raman spectroscopy.

"That means we irradiate the exciters with laser light and evaluate the scattered light spectrum," Neugebauer describes the method.

"After only two hours, we see definite changes in the Raman spectra. From this it can be deduced whether the strain is resistant or sensitive, "explains Prof. Jürgen Popp, director of the Leibniz-IPHT and head of the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Friedrich Schiller University Jena.

"At the same time we receive information on how high the concentration of the antibiotic must be in order to completely inhibit bacterial growth. This is an important diagnostic parameter that crucially influences the success of the treatment, "continues Popp.

The results presented by the team of chemists, physicians and biologists in the journal "Analytical Chemistry".

Help with the award of the appropriate drug

The combination of fast, light-based diagnostics and a high degree of automation shortens the time from sampling to results from the previous 72 hours to three and a half hours.

"Such a rapid procedure could revolutionize the diagnosis of infectious diseases," says Prof. Bettina Löffler, director of the Institute of Medical Microbiology at the University Hospital Jena.

Currently, the researchers are working on a platform for use in hospitals.

A more far-reaching goal is the further development of a cartridge-based rapid test system, which will for the first time enable general practitioners to determine the resistance easily and quickly.

This would give physicians a powerful tool to assist them in the personalized therapy decision, i. supported in the award of the appropriate drug. (Ad)