System can diagnose infections in 20 minutes, aiding fight against drug resistance
Phys.org••health
Key Points:
- Researchers from the UK and China have developed AutoEnricher, a rapid diagnostic system that can identify microbial infections in just 20 minutes using microfluidic technology, Raman spectroscopy, and machine learning.
- AutoEnricher was validated on 305 patient samples from three hospitals, achieving 95% accuracy and successfully detecting multiple simultaneous infections often missed by conventional lab culture methods.
- The system works by isolating pathogen cells from patient samples and analyzing their unique chemical fingerprints, enabling diagnosis with as few as 10 pathogen cells without the need for time-consuming culturing.
- This breakthrough could significantly reduce the misuse of antibiotics by enabling faster, personalized treatment decisions, helping to combat the global threat of antimicrobial resistance projected to cause 10 million deaths annually by
