Scholarly record

EFFECIENT SPECTROSCOPIC METHOD FOR RAPID DETECTION AND ANTIBIOTICS SUSCEPTIBILITY DETERMINATION OF BACTERIA

Mahmoud Huleihel

Abstract

Bacterial infections are among the most common infectious diseases. Antibiotics have been a crucial approach in preventing and treating human bacterial infections for the past century. These powerful medications effectively combat specific diseases and potentially save lives. Antibiotics destroy bacteria or inhibit their reproduction and spread. After the breakthrough discovery of penicillin, a wide array of antibiotics has been subsequently uncovered. Although antibiotics remain the primary treatment, many bacteria have already developed resistance to most commonly used antibiotics. As a result, accurately identifying the infecting bacterial species and determining its antibiotic susceptibility are essential for selecting effective therapy. Traditional methods, however, are time-consuming and typically require around 48 hours to assess bacterial susceptibility. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a rapid method capable of identifying the bacterial species and diagnosing its antibiotic resistance profile. Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy is a well-established, sensitive, and rapid technique that can detect subtle molecular changes in bacterial cells associated with antibiotic resistance. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the potential of FTIR spectroscopy to identify bacterial species and determine their antibiotic susceptibility within approximately 50 minutes of receiving a patient sample. Using this approach, we achieved 98% accuracy in isolate-level identification and 90% accuracy in determining susceptibility to various antibiotics.

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