By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer
September 18, 2013
WASHINGTON
(AP) — It happens too often: A doctor isn't sure what's causing
someone's feverish illness but prescribes antibiotics just in case,
drugs that don't work if a virus is the real culprit.
Now Duke University
researchers are developing a blood test to more easily tell when a
respiratory illness is due to a virus and not a bacterial infection,
hoping to cut the dangerous overuse of antibiotics and speed the
right diagnosis.
It
works by taking a fingerprint of your immune system — how its genes are
revving up to fight the bug. That's very different from how infections
are diagnosed today. And if the experimental test pans out, it also
promises to help doctors track brand-new threats, like the next flu
pandemic or that mysterious MERS virus that has erupted in the
Middle East.
That viral "signature could be quite powerful, and may be a game-changer," said Dr. Geoffrey Ginsburg,
Duke's genomic medicine chief. He leads the team that on Wednesday
reported that a study involving 102 people provided early evidence that
the test can work.
Continued: http://www.seattlepi.com/news/medical/article/New-test-aims-to-better-detect-viral-infections-4824728.php
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