Cheap blood test can discriminate between bacterial, viral infections

[Kyla]

https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-n...inate-between-bacterial-viral-infections.html

excerpt:

Cheap blood test can discriminate between bacterial, viral infections
A simple blood test in development could accurately identify which patients need antibiotics, Stanford researchers say.

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have made an important breakthrough in their ongoing efforts to develop a diagnostic test that can tell health-care providers whether a patient has a bacterial infection and will benefit from antibiotics.

The study was published July 6 in Science Translational Medicine.

Antibiotics have saved millions of lives and created a world in which complex and lifesaving surgeries are possible. But the overuse of antibiotics threatens to create a global scourge of antibiotic-resistant bacterial pathogens. Because of this problem, public health experts regularly remind physicians to prescribe antibiotics only for bacterial infections. But too often there’s no easy way for doctors to tell whether a patient’s illness is bacterial or viral or, sometimes, if there’s any infection at all...

 

[halcyon]

They should run some ME patients through the test, just for fun.

 

[halcyon]

Recently published paper is here.

 

[Hutan]

From the abstract:

In a pooled analysis of 1057 samples from 20 cohorts (excluding infants), the integrated antibiotics decision model had a sensitivity and specificity for bacterial infections of 94.0 and 59.8%,

i.e. the model correctly identifies 94% of people with a bacterial infection
the model incorrectly identifies 40% of people without a bacterial infection as having one

i presume the 'integrated antibiotics decision model' includes more than just the test e.g. perhaps signs of fever etc. So probably the test alone isn't quite so good.

I really hope all these Stanford people are talking to each other.

 

[halcyon]

I really hope all these Stanford people are talking to each other.

I sent an email and received a very quick reply from one of the authors. They know Dr. Montoya well and said they would bring up the idea of similar research on his cohort next time they speak.

 

[Hutan]

Oh well done @halcyon. Put your feet up, your work for the day in progressing knowledge about ME is done.

 

[halcyon]

Oh well done @halcyon. Put your feet up, your work for the day in progressing knowledge about ME is done.

He said I was the second patient of Dr. Montoya's to email him today about this, so I can't take all the credit.