NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – For bloodstream infections, combining rapid molecular identification of pathogens with antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) directly from whole blood on a single platform is the "holy grail" to guide appropriate antibiotic use.

A proof-of-concept study has now shown that using a sped-up PCR method, high-resolution melt analysis, and a technique to detect bacteria in their demise after a brief antibiotic treatment, can yield full ID-AST results in around eight hours, with the potential to go even faster.