Blood Test May Curb Unnecessary Antibiotic Use
POSTED: 12:47 p.m. EST February 18, 2004
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LONDON -- Swiss researchers may have come up with a way to avoid the over-prescribing of antibiotics that can create drug-resistant germs.
A quick and easy blood test described this week in The Lancet medical journal could help doctors determine whether antibiotics are necessary for common respiratory infections.
About 75 percent of all antibiotics are given for lower respiratory tract infections such as bronchitis and pneumonia, even though there is often no evidence of bacterial infection, according to the researchers.
Most of the time, these infections are caused by a virus, not bacteria. Experts say antibiotics are not only useless against viral infections, but they also help bacteria that are present in the body to evolve defenses against drugs.
The test measures blood levels of a chemical marker that is elevated in bacterial infections but not so high when the cause is a virus or something else. Results are available within an hour.
FDA: Antibiotic ResistanceDistributed by Internet Broadcasting Systems, Inc. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
