Researchers at the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom are examining the use of the nanopore MinION device, which can speed up detection of infections, including urinary tract infections.
Typically, standard culture methods take two days to three days to characterize bacteria and test their antimicrobial resistances from a urine sample. Early on in the study, university researchers found the nanopore MinION device could do the same in just 12 hours from a urine sample. Now, that time has been shortened to four hours. While UTI's are usually mild, serious cases can lead to hospitalization.
The study, published in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, involved removing human cells from patients' urine samples. MinION then sequenced the bacteria and their DNA. Researchers analyzed the sequences and compared the results with standard culture and antibiotic susceptibility testing.
"Both the type of bacteria and the acquired resistance genes were identified reliably, agreeing with conventional laboratory testing. Challenges remain, though. The approach is currently best suited to difficult cases, but improving hospitals' antibiotic stewardship requires new diagnostics to be deployed widely," said Dr Justin O'Grady of UEA's Norwich Medical School.