Diagnostic tool to cut antibiotic prescribing in viral infections

摘要

Anew way to distinguish between bacterial and viral respiratory infections has been developed in the hope it could limit the inappropriate use of antibiotics, an important driver in the emergence of antibiotic resistance. Researchers from'Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, compared gene expression patterns in blood samples from 273 patients who were admitted to hospital with respiratory illness: 115 of whom had a viral infection; 70 had a bacterial infection; and 88 had a non-infectious illness, such as sarcoidosis or lung cancer; 44 healthy adults were used as a control cohort.