Antibiotic-resistant infections are becoming a growing problem for health care professionals.
An ASU researcher has been developing a test for urinary tract infections that could help against the so-called “super bugs.”
One of the drivers behind such bacteria is the over prescription of antibiotics.
Normal culture tests can take days to determine whether an antibiotic will be effective. That could cost some patients their lives. So in some cases, doctors prescribe a generic antibiotic while they are determining which specific one will work best.
ASU professor Shoapeng Wang recently patented a test that uses machine learning and video analysis to see if bacteria respond to specific drugs. He says it is a similar process to counting stars in the night sky.
“We can see the number of bacteria and we analyzed the behavior of those blinking dots. If the number grows, we know they are growing, right? The number increases over time — they are growing," he said.
Wang says his team is looking to expand the technology to look into other types of infections.
