Microfluidic advances in phenotypic antibiotic susceptibility testing

A multiplexed microfluidic platform for rapid antibiotic susceptibility testing.

Effective treatment of clinical infections is critically dependent on the ability to rapidly screen patient samples to identify antibiograms of infecting pathogens. Existing methods for antibiotic susceptibility testing suffer from several disadvantages, including long turnaround times, excess sample and reagent consumption, poor detection sensitivity, and limited combinatorial capabilities. Un...

Rapid Phenotypic Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing Through RNA Detection

A Novel Microfluidic Assay for Rapid Phenotypic Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing of Bacteria Detected in Clinical Blood Cultures

BACKGROUND Appropriate antibiotic therapy is critical in the management of severe sepsis and septic shock to reduce mortality, morbidity and health costs. New methods for rapid antibiotic susceptibility testing are needed because of increasing resistance rates to standard treatment. AIMS The purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance of a novel microfluidic method and the potential...

Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing

12.2 TERMINOLOGY Selectivity All Clinically effective antimicrobial agents exhibit selective toxicity towards the bacterium rather than the host. It is this characteristic that distinguishes antibiotics from disinfectants. The basis for selectivity will vary depending on the particular antibiotic. When selectivity is high the antibiotics are normally non toxic. However, even highly selective an...

Antibiotic treatment and susceptibility testing.

T he concept of attacking invading microorganisms without harming the host was first introduced by Paul Ehrlich. In 1910 he discovered ‘‘salvarsan’’, which he announced as a magic bullet for the treatment of syphilis. Penicillin, produced by the fungus, Penicillium notatum, was first discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928, purified by Florey and Chain in 1940, and shown to have wide applicabil...