New Breath Test Could Help Doctors Track Whether Antibiotics Are Working

In A Nutshell: Researchers developed a breath test that detects bacterial infections by measuring a carbon-13 signal produced when bacteria consume specially tagged sugar compounds injected into the bloodstream. In infected mice, the signal tracked bacterial load in real time and dropped sharply after antibiotic treatment, suggesting the test could tell doctors whether a drug is actually working. The approach successfully detected infections in multiple tissues, including muscle, lungs, bone, and blood, using portable, inexpensive equipment. All findings are currently from animal studies, and significant testing in humans is still needed before the method could reach clinical use. Antibiotic resistance...