New tool to distinguish between viral, bacterial infections
Friday, July 28, 2017 - 15:32
in Health & Medicine
Antibiotics are lifesaving drugs, but overuse is leading to antibiotic resistance, one of the world's most pressing health threats. Scientists identified 11 genetic markers in blood that accurately distinguished between viral and bacterial infections 80 to 90 percent of the time. The finding is important because physicians don't have a good way to confirm bacterial infections like pneumonia and more-often-than-not default to an antibiotic.