NEW MICROBIOLOGICAL TECHNIQUES FOR THE DIAGNOSIS OF BACTERIAL INFECTIONS AND SEPSIS IN ICU PATIENTS

Bacterial infections and sepsis cause major morbidity and death in patients hospitalised to the intensive care unit, and their management is complicated by the rise in antibiotic resistance worldwide. In this context, novel diagnostic approaches capable of surpassing standard microbiology’s limitations in terms of turnaround time and accuracy are urgently needed.

While, in some respects, clinical microbiology laboratories have relied upon techniques that have evolved little for many decades, there are a number of emerging technologies that are set to revolutionise how microbial diagnostics may be performed in the near future. Optimisation of existing culture-based approaches, quick antigen detection, nucleic acid detection (including multiplex PCR assays and microarrays), sepsis biomarkers, innovative pathogen detection methods (e.g. T2 magnetic resonance), susceptibility testing and the application of direct metagenomics are all discussed.

This article aims to review the current state of the art, and emerging technologies, that may improve our capacity for rapid and accurate microbiological diagnosis in patients with significant bacterial infections and sepsis.

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