The test allows doctors to return results identifying bacteria in infected lungs within a minute on intensive care wards where every second counts. Pneumonia is the UK’s sixth biggest killer but the new medical imaging technology will enable to identify it and other bacteria deep inside patients’ lungs. Globally around 20 million patients are rushed in to intensive care needing ventilators each year. Doctors currently diagnose infections using X-rays, which are imprecise and tests on fluid samples extracted from patients’ lungs, which are slow. Scientists have designed chemical probes that can be sprayed into patients’ lungs, which light up when they attach to specific types of infectious bacteria.

Source: Daily Mirror February 15, 2018 18:22 UTC