IISc researchers develop a method to rapidly detect disease-causing bacteria
Quick detection of the disease-causing agent or pathogen and checking for whether it is alive or not in the patient samples are vital to treating infectious diseases.
Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have developed a new method to rapidly identify and check whether a disease-causing bacterium is alive or dead. The uniqueness of the method is the rapidity and sensitivity of the method.
New Method Highlights:
? The new method uses Raman spectroscopy to recognize bacteria and check for their viability, or their state of being alive. The Raman spectroscopy technique is usually used to identify chemical bonds in materials.
? The method can be potentially modified into a bed-side, table-top device for diagnosis.
? Quick detection of the disease-causing agent or pathogen and checking for whether it is alive or not in the patient samples are vital to treating infectious diseases. By identifying the pathogen's viability, the physicians generally decide the dose of antibiotics to be prescribed and reduces the possibility of overprescription that can lead to antibiotic resistance.
