After a decade-long competition to develop new tools to combat the problem of superbugs, the £8 million Longitude Prize has been won.
It was given to a test that quickly determines whether an infection is bacterial in nature and determines the appropriate course of treatment (antibiotics).
The exam takes forty-five minutes, as opposed to three days with conventional approaches.
The Swedish researchers who founded Sysmex Astrego, the company that is currently selling the test, carried out the original research.
Pandemic in silence
A 1714 contest served as the impetus for the Longitude Prize, which carries a financial award almost ten times more than a Nobel Prize.
John Harrison won it because he overcame a major challenge by developing a precise clock that helped sailors find their position at sea.
The modern medical system as we know it could collapse without antibiotics, according to Dame Sally Davies, the UK’s special envoy on antimicrobial resistance.
Each usage of an antibiotic gives microorganisms in the body a chance to develop resistance to it.
The life-saving medications should only be used when it is certain they will be effective because resistance provides those bacteria a survival advantage and encourages them to spread.
