Microchips used to test for bacteria

ADDLESTON, England, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- British scientists have created microchips capable of quickly and inexpensively identifying drug resistant bacteria in clinical samples.

Researchers at Britain's Veterinary Laboratories Agency said the chips will allow physicians and veterinarians to test for the presence of genes for antibiotic resistance in bacteria and obtain test results within 24 hours instead of several days.

"We have developed a test chip which can accurately identify 56 virulence genes in the diarrhea-causing Escherichia coli bacteria and 54 antimicrobial resistance genes covering all the known families of gram-negative bacteria," said Muna Anjum of the agency's Addleston laboratories.

"In the near future, we are planning to automate the method to enable each sample to be tested for up to 600 genes and for 96 samples to be processed in half a day," Anjum said. "This will allow large scale monitoring of bacterial pathogens to see how they gain and lose genes related to disease and its control."

The study was presented Wednesday during the 161st meeting of the Society for General Microbiology at the University of Edinburgh.