A new method of rapidly identifying bacteria also may be able to accurately determine their antibiotic resistance and sensitivity, according to data published in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology.

Researchers from Uppsala University, Sweden, and the Science for Life Laboratory, Stockholm, combined a growth-based phenotypic test with a highly sensitive and specific genotypic test to examine resistance in bacterial samples. Eighty-eight infected urine samples were cultivated and analyzed. Different commonly used antibiotics were introduced to the samples, with increased copies of a specific DNA sequence used to identify bacterium resistance.