“Is it a bacteria or is it a virus?†This is a common dilemma faced by many doctors daily.
It’s a problem that has also led to the overuse of antibiotics in our healthcare system. A doctor is primarily concerned with making you feel better.
Therefore, when you come into their office with a fever or coughing up a lung they are going to give you something in hopes of ending your illness. However, even the doctor has a difficult time deciding whether your infection is viral or bacterial.
Although they are difficult to differentiate, they differ enormously when it comes to treatment and disease progression.
Antibiotics will do nothing for your illness if you have a viral infection. Viral infections are best treated through symptom relief, since antibiotics will have no effect on them.
However, a broad-spectrum antibiotic may be your cure if you do have a common bacterial infection. This fact leads many doctors to prescribe an antibiotic, even if they do not know whether your infection is viral or bacterial.
It is safer for the doctor to simply prescribe an antibiotic, just in case you do have some sort of bacterial infection. They are strictly concerned for your health, which may leave them blind to the negative effects that the over-prescription of antibiotics has had on the health care system.
In the United States, according to a 2013 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at least 2 million people annually “acquire serious infections with bacteria that are resistant to one or more of the antibiotics designed to treat those infections.â€
And at least 23,000 people die annually from antibiotic-resistant infections. (MayoClinic) The large increase in antibacterial-resistant infections is largely due to the misuse and over prescription of antibiotics in our society. (CDC)
However, this major dilemma that has arisen due to the inability to identify whether an infection is caused by a virus or a bacteria, may finally have a resolution. MeMed’s ImmunoXpert is a new test that can supposedly differentiate a viral infection from a bacterial infection. (BBC)
The blood test focuses on a protein in the blood called TRAIL that significantly rises in patients with a viral infection and decreases in those with a bacterial illness. These findings come from a study out of Israel that examined over 1,000 patients.
With results in fewer than 2 hours, Dr. Eran Eden, the CEO of MeMed, touts “highly accurate results, with sensitivity and specificity greater than 90%.â€
If these claims hold to be true, it can be a revolutionary test for the healthcare field that desperately needs a resolution to the increase in secondary infections from hospital visits.
Antibiotic resistance is a very serious health concern, and it is certainly not going away with our current misuse of antibiotics.
Hopefully, this blood test will answer whether an infection is viral or bacterial, and usher in a new era of proper antibiotic use. Dr. Eden also notes that the test, “is not perfect and it does not replace a physician’s judgment, but it is better than many other routine tests used in practice today.â€
While it remains to be seen if this test is a successful indicator of viral and bacterial infections, it is a promising step in the right direction for a healthcare system that is lost in this field.
Zach Heppner
Viewpoints Editor
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