The Food and Drug Administration approved a test Wednesday that can help physicians diagnose an infection and select the proper antibiotic much more rapidly than with existing tests.
The Verigene GP Blood Culture Nucleic Acid Test — which is known as the BC-GP test — can identify different types of Staphylococcus, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Streptococcus, Enterococcus (including vancomycin-resistant Enterococci) and Listeria within hours of an infection starting, Medical News Today reports. Infectious diseases such as MRSA can devastate nursing homes.
Existing bacterial tests can take up to four days to culture, which can expose patients to higher risks and lessen the effectiveness of antibiotics. Treatment of an infection with the wrong antibiotic also can result in greater antibiotic resistance, experts warn. The new BC-GP test, made by Nanosphere, offers a leap forward in catching the disease early while evaluating antibiotic resistance, the company’s CEO told Medical News Today.
