New innovation diagnostics and treatments are key to fighting antimicrobial resistance
Jeannette Cooperman, 2022 – spent a decade as an award-winning investigative reporter, then went on to teach, write, and work as editor-in-chief of St. Louis Magazine “The next war we have to win” Washington Magazine (Washington University St Louis), 4/15,
//DH
To address antibiotic resistance, we need more than new drugs, though. New antibiotics are necessary to treat resistant infections, but the enemy will develop resistance to them, too. To really make headway, we need new diagnostic tests, so we can swiftly detect the source of infection and pinpoint the right treatment. Some of the current tests are so slow, doctors feel obliged to prescribe antibiotics while waiting for the results. And many tests require a lab with running water and electricity, which hospitals in some countries can’t guarantee continuously.
“Hospitals and laboratories need to use molecular methods to detect the genetic material of the bacteria or virus,” Fraser says, “to speed diagnosis of the organism and detect the presence of resistance genes.” Just waiting for bacteria to grow can take days to weeks — and that’s often too long. “Also, we need rapid diagnostic tests that can be used on blood and other body fluids.”
One creative approach is to treat infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria with bacteriophages — viruses that paralyze bacteria. Bacteriophages can be used in combination with antibiotics and targeted to kill certain resistant bacteria, Fraser says. “But it’s difficult and labor-intensive, and the protocol has to be developed specifically for each patient’s infection.” And after all that? Bacteria can become resistant to bacteriophages as well.