A Self-Calibrating Chemiluminescence Sensor for Rapid and Precise Antibiotic Prescribing Guidelines on Urinary Tract...

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Clinical Diagnostics
• Microbiology

Background:

• Traditional antimicrobial-susceptibility testing (AST) is time-consuming and costly.
• Rapid, user-friendly phenotypic AST is crucial for effective treatment strategies.
• Accurate bacterial quantification is a challenge in current rapid AST methods.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a rapid, self-calibrating chemiluminescence sensor for phenotypic AST.
• To measure bacterial viability via catalase activity in response to antibiotics.
• To enable direct AST from clinical urine samples without bacterial quantification.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a chemiluminescence-based analytical method coupled with catalase activity detection.
• Employed a nanosensor platform to measure bacterial response to hydrogen peroxide after antibiotic treatment.
• Tested the sensor on uropathogenic *Escherichia coli* and *Klebsiella pneumoniae* in clinical urine samples.

Main Results:

• The sensor accurately determined antibiotic susceptibility within 40 minutes.
• The method does not require bacterial quantification for reliable results.
• Demonstrated effectiveness for common uropathogens causing urinary tract infections.

Conclusions:

• The developed ultrafast AST platform provides accurate results.
• This technology can precisely guide antibiotic prescriptions.
• Shortens clinical decision-making time for urinary tract infections.