A Bug Rises, and With It a Company - New York Times

Link: A Bug Rises, and With It a Company - New York Times.

Patients might not particularly like the new admission procedure at a growing number of hospitals: having what looks like an elongated Q-Tip stuck up their noses. But it smells great to Cepheid. Cepheid, a biotechnology company in Silicon Valley, sells a rapid genetic test to detect MRSA, an antibiotic-resistant “superbug” that has received considerable media coverage and kills more Americans than AIDS. With fear of the germ rising, and some states calling for mandatory screening, hospitals are snapping up Cepheid’s product in order to test incoming patients by using it with a nasal swab.