Quick Microchip Test For Dangerous Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria, UK

Link: Quick Microchip Test For Dangerous Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria, UK.

Researchers at the Veterinary Laboratories Agency in Surrey have developed microchips capable of quickly and cheaply identifying dangerous and drug resistant bacteria in clinical samples, scientists announced today Wednesday 5 September 2007 at the Society for General Microbiology's 161st Meeting at the University of Edinburgh, UK, which runs from 3- 6 September 2007. For the first time doctors and veterinarians will be able to test clinical samples from their patients for the presence of the genes for antibiotic resistance in bacteria, getting the results within 24 hours instead of having to wait for as much as a week. "We have developed a test chip which can accurately identify 56 virulence genes in the diarrhoea-causing Escherichia coli bacteria and 54 antimicrobial resistance genes covering all the known families of gram-negative bacteria", says Dr Muna Anjum from the UK's Veterinary Laboratories Agency in Addlestone, Surrey.