- Say, here they are!
- [Male Narrator] Ted has just seen one
of the many kinds of bacteria.
Bacteria are found almost everywhere in our environment.
- [Roxanne Makasdjian] Bacteria is everywhere.
The tiny organisms come in many forms:
Some that keep us healthy,
and others that infect us with all kinds of diseases.
We use antibiotics to kill bacteria.
But with the overuse of these drugs over times,
some bacteria have evolved,
producing new enzymes that help
them survive an antibiotic attack.
Hundreds of thousands of people die each year
because their infections are resistant to the
antibiotics that used to work.
Scientists have invented newer classes of antibiotics,
but prescribing those unnecessarily
helped make the problem worse.
With each new antibiotic, bacteria quickly became resistant.
Doctors can use a test to check whether a patient's
infection is resistant to an antibiotic,
but the test can take several days
and needs special equipment.
So when that's too inconvenient,
they'll often just fall back on
prescribing the stronger drug.
Now, a team at Berkely has come up with a solution.
Hi Tara - Hi
- You invented a test called Detect, what does it do?
- Detect is a simple test that helps
doctors treat bacterial infections.
- So tell me how it works.
- We're going after urinary tract infections first,
that's our first target, because it's the most abundant
bacterial infection around the world.
So we typically have a urine sample
that was given to a doctor,
but today we're just gonna be using
these synthetic urine samples:
One that was prepared with a bacteria
that actually is resistant to an antibiotic,
and the other one that is negative and has a bacteria
that would be able to be treated with an antibiotic.
We just take this synthetic urine,
and we add it to our Detect solution.
- You just mix it, that's all? - Just mix it, that's it.
And then just kinda give them a little shake,
and we let them sit on a lab bench.
- [Roxanne Makasdjian] Detect is built with a
bit of antibiotic in it.
If the bacteria is able to destroy the antibiotic,
Detect will recognize the remnants of that battle.
- And in five minutes we'll have a color change.
Of course if it's positive, it does tell you that
there is a resistant bacterial infection that's happening.
However, if it's negative, it's great,
because then the doctor can really
treat with this lower generation antibiotic,
and sparing the use of alternatives.
So the hope is that we are developing
a test that could be used all around the world,
that does not take any type of instrumentation
or doesn't require electricity really,
so the fact that this test is really
just a color changing or visual detection,
and you can know exactly how to treat a patient will really
help decrease the inappropriate
use and overuse in antibiotics.
- [Roxanne] The next version of Detect will change
to a red color instead of yellow, to make it easier to see,
and it should be available to doctors in a few years.
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