Scientists describe promising rapid tests for antibiotic susceptibility

Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (CIT) have developed two innovative approaches for getting quick, point-of-care results on bacterial susceptibility to antibiotics.

The methods, described yesterday in two proof-of-concept studies published in PLOS Biology, reduce the time it takes to determine whether Neisseria gonorrhoeae or Enterobacteriaceae are susceptible or resistant to beta-lactam antibiotics to 30 minutes or less, using an approach that measures the accessibility of bacterial DNA after exposure to antibiotics.