More evidence needed before upper respiratory tract point-of-care microbiological testing for respiratory infections is used in primary care

Beth Stuart, Alastair D. Hay

Antimicrobial resistance remains a global high-priority public health challenge. With around 80% of all health service antibiotics prescribed in primary care and strong evidence that most patients will not benefit, there is an urgent need to identify the minority of patients who could benefit. Understanding the microbiological cause seems an obvious approach, but samples are rarely sent to laboratories from primary care because (a) results are too slow to inform management, (b) costs, and (c) the inappropriateness of taking invasive samples from sterile body sites. Thus, alternative methods are necessary if microbiology is to be used to inform the use of antibacterials and antivirals in primary care.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmi.2024.09.002

Type

Journal article

Journal

ScienceDirect

Issue

Clinical Microbiology and Infection Available online 7 September 2024

Publisher

Elsevier B.V

Publication Date

07/09/2024

Addresses

NIHR School for Primary Care Research (project reference 589).

Keywords

Acute respiratory infection, Antibiotics, Antimicrobial resistance, Microbiology, Point-of-care test, Primary

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