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Two Utah hospitals have a new machine that tests for dangerous drug-resistant staph bacteria in only two hours. That means patients and their doctors know almost immediately what they're up against. It's another move to aggressively go after this resistant bacteria and take it down.
Teen idol Mitchel Musso was in Salt Lake today pumping up kids to wash their hands in an attempt to eliminate spread of drug-resistant staph, or MRSA.
Kids carry the bacteria home to family who, in turn, may take the bacteria into a hospital where it could become life threatening to patients.
Musso was a hit, but a new machine is the real star. Instead of 48 hours to grow staph in petri dishes, the machine identifies the villain's DNA in only two hours.
"Because we're working with DNA -- DNA is specific, so it codes -- you're looking at like a 99.99 percent accuracy rate with this," explained Angie Silva, microbiology supervisor at St. Mark's Hospital.
One of the remarkable features of this test is how small the sample is. "You need one gene, and it codes from that gene on and replicates itself; and that's it," Silva said.
Silva says since doctors are notified within two hours, treatment begins immediately, hopefully before MRSA takes the patient down.
The machine offers a new, faster way to test, but we should all be participating in the old way curbing MRSA's spread by washing our hands.
E-mail: eyeates@ksl.com
