DNA tests that are quick and cheap could soon reveal which bugs are making a
patient ill and even whether bacteria are antibiotic-resistant. This will allow
doctors to speedily prescribe the most effective treatments, saving lives and
reducing the spread of antibiotic resistance.
At the moment doctors have to send samples to a lab to be identified, which
is expensive and slow—it can take up to three days to get the results. So
people with simple illnesses such as sore throats are often prescribed
antibiotics “just in case”, even though the drugs don’t help most of these
patients because…
