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Written By: Editorial Team | Published : July 2, 2014 11:32 AM IST
BITS Pilani-Hyderabad has developed a new low-cost, ultra-rapid portable device to test antibiotic sensitivity of human urinary pathogens which can help curb antibiotic resistance to a large extent. The institute announced that it is transferring the technology to an incubate company Xcellence in Bio Innovation and Technologies Pvt Ltd (xBITS) for commercial scale production. An agreement has been signed by V.S Rao, director, BITS Pilani with the representative from of xBITS in the presence of Suman Kapur who is the inventor of this technology, said a statement from BITS Pilani.
Rao said with this initiative of transferring the technology, BITS opened a new chapter in 'knowledge economy' and enabled the spirit of entrepreneurship among BITS students and faculty. Kapur described the technology as 'the fastest antibiotic finder available till date'. This technology, developed with the funding received from NPMASS-DRDO is expected to obliterate the empirical use of antibiotics and thus help in fighting the growing microbial resistance to antibiotics. She said the device could be used in a doctor's clinic, lab or hospital-to test antibiotic sensitivity of pathogens found in human biological fluids and tissue scrapings. The novel device which comes with a ready-to-use kit could provide results in a couple of hours as against the normal wait of 2-3 days for a sample to be cultured and tested in any lab.
Anuradha Pal, from xBITS, added that this innovative technology will take the Antibiotic Sensitivity Test (AST) to all people and places in India and other resource constraint settings where facilities for this test are not available.
What is antibiotic resistance?
Microorganisms constantly evolve to efficiently adapt to new environments and antibiotic resistance is one such adaptation. The ability of microorganisms to grow in the presence of an antibiotic that would normally kill them or limit their growth is called antimicrobial resistance. The bacteria which have become resistant cause infections which cannot be treated with the usual drugs, dosages or concentrations. Bacteria which have developed resistance to multiple antibiotics are called multidrug resistant (MDR) bacteria ormore commonly,superbugs.
What causes antibiotic resistance?
Antibiotic resistance has become a common phenomenon due to their misuse. It could be in the form of indiscriminate self-medication, prescribing incorrect dosage, not following prescribed dosage, failure to complete the course and excessive use of prophylactic (preventive) antibiotics. Another major reason is prescription of antibiotics to treat viral infections such as the common cold. Read more about Antibiotic resistance why it is more dangerous than you think
With inputs from IANS
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