Toward rapid real-time molecular diagnostic to guide smart use of antimicrobials

Current microbial diagnostic is too slow to provide clinically useful information for the physician to prescribe, only when needed, the appropriate antibiotics. New advances in real-time PCR promise results that will come fast enough to revolutionise the practice of medicine. These novel, fully integrated devices, coupled with appropriate databases, will insure better management of patients, should reduce health costs, and could impact on the spread of antibiotic resistance.