Bacteria May Be Detected In Minutes

Strong antibiotics are prescribed by the doctors during illness, when the patient, as well as doctors, wait for days, in order to take a look at blood report. However, a new device is being studied which can detect bacteria in minutes.

The professor of biomedical engineering and mechanical engineering, Pak Kin Wong and a team at Penn State University are together working on a new device which can return the results of the blood work or urine, within minutes instead of days. This device uses micro technology to trap single bacteria cells that can then be viewed under an electron microscope.

The blood report takes a minimum of 3 to 4 days, till then heavy doses of antibiotics are already taken by the patient. This is an over-prescription of the strong medications which sometimes is not required at all. There are times when there is no bacterial infection and still a patient is treated assuming there might be one till the reports come.

The team has applied for the patent, also are working on the size, so that hospitals and doctors can regularly use it. The machine is expected to come in the market in three years.