Limitations of current techniques in clinical antimicrobial resistance diagnosis: examples and future prospects

Antimicrobial resistance is a global threat to public health. Without proactive intervention, common infections may become untreatable, restricting the types of clinical intervention that can be undertaken and reversing improvements in mortality rates. Effective antimicrobial stewardship represents one approach to restrict the spread of antimicrobial resistance but relies on rapid and accurate diagnostics that minimise the unnecessary use of antibiotics. This is increasingly a key unmet clinical need. In this paper, we describe existing techniques for the detection of antimicrobial resistance, while examining their drawbacks and limitations. We also discuss emerging diagnostic technologies in the field, and the need for standardisation to allow for swifter and more widespread clinical adoption.