The 15-Minute Test That Tells If You Need Antibiotics

Doctors in Liverpool, Derbyshire and the North East are already trialing the £12 finger-prick test, which tells a GP within a quarter of an hour whether a patient truly needs antibiotics for a chest complaint.

If rolled out nationally it could prove a badly-needed tool in the battle against superbugs.

The test – which identifies whether a patient is suffering from a bacterial infection or a virus while they sit in the waiting room – changed a GP's decision in 48 per cent of cases, a pilot study found.

And it cut the number of unnecessary prescriptions given for respiratory problems by 80 per cent, according to the trial at a GP practice in Dronfield, North Derbyshir

Read more at the Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-5052565/The-15-minute-test-tells-GP-need-antibiotics.html#ixzz4xvwiFaEP