Emerging Challenge: AMR in UTIs
An emerging trend continues to challenge clinicians and worsen outcomes for patients: drug-resistant UTIs, emanating from a world-wide battle against antimicrobial resistance.
A recent Scientific American publication explained these challenges, with expert Dr. Lisa Bebell describing it as “Antibiotic resistance is a huge problem for UTIs, compared to other infections, because UTIs are so common. So we see the effects of antibiotic resistance much more immediately and with a higher prevalence.”[1]
The dangers associated with antimicrobial resistance are quite astounding, with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Defense, and U.S. State Department all describing it as a “significant threat” in their National Security Strategy and Global Health Security Strategy in wake of a dangerous, rising tide of AMR.[2] For this reason, these departments continue to invest billions of dollars in support of new solutions to address this challenge to the public health and health security interest of the United States.
In the context of UTIs, a study in 2019 suggested that “more than 92 percent of bacteria that cause UTIs are resistant to at least one common antibiotic, and almost 80 percent are resistant to at least two.”[3] Without effective and quick identification and diagnostic of the infection-causing pathogen, patients are often mis-prescribed an antibiotic that struggles to manage. This challenge in clinical treatment often leads to increased hospitalizations, more severe illness, and substantially increased healthcare costs with worsened patient outcomes.
For this reason – clinicians have identified one key solution: better, quicker diagnostics to rapidly identify the exact pathogen causing infection, to also support identification of the best antibiotic for the given threat.
In Bebell’s perspective: “I’d like to see more point-of-care tests developed that can help identify the bacteria that’s involved and its genetic composition. I think the long-term strategy is to get better diagnostics and not rely on culture-based methods.”
It’s for this reason that GeneCapture, a Huntsville-based company, continues to develop its proprietary point-of-care rapid diagnostic platform with Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing for UTIs and other pathogenic threats. GeneCapture’s inventive approach, funded in part by DoD contracts is intended to significantly reduce the time to diagnosis and improve treatment, leading to improved patient outcomes and reduced antimicrobial resistance.
[1] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/antibiotic-resistant-utis-are-common-and-other-infections-may-soon-be-resistant-too/
[2] https://www.state.gov/key-topics-office-of-international-health-and-biodefense/using-a-whole-of-government-approach-to-advance-health-objectives/
[3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6436442/