MICROBIAL TECHNOLOGY
Rapid diagnostics – warts and all: a report on the ante meridiem session
In this first of two reports from this year’s British Society for Microbial Technology Annual Microbiology Conference, BSMT Chair Dr Mark Wilks and colleagues look at three presentations from the morning session. Two demonstrate the efforts being made at the cutting edge of practice, while the third what can be achieved with limited resources.
‘Rapid diagnostics: warts and all’ was the title of the 39th Annual Microbiology Conference of the British Society for Microbial Technology (BSMT). It was originally a working title for want of a better one, but in fact it turned out to be quite appropriate as we were looking at ‘warts’ – the problems with rapid diagnostics as well as the ‘and all’ – the potential for widespread coverage and perhaps the detection of all pathogens. All this against a background of increasing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and how it could be reduced. It was held at the UKHSA site in Colindale, North London to a packed-out lecture theatre. Here in the first of two articles, we review some of the key points from the meeting.
Rapid diagnostics: an overview The meeting began with a keynote talk by Dr Luke Moore, Consultant in Infectious Diseases, Microbiology, & Virology, Chelsea & Westminster NHS Foundation Trust, which was delivered with considerable elan. His wide-ranging talk gave a comprehensive overview of the whole area focusing on three areas in particular: n How rapid diagnostics are prioritised in national action programmes (NAPs) for AMR
n How rapid diagnostics impact antimicrobial stewardship and clinical metrics
n What are the opportunities and pitfalls for assessing rapid diagnostic value?
The UK Health Security Agency, Colindale, North London, venue for the 39th Annual Microbiology Conference of the BSMT.
Dr Moore cited a recent review of national action plans to reduce AMR1
in
which it was reported that only 28 (26%) of NAPs mentioned that diagnostics including point-of-care diagnostics had a role to play. This seems a disappointingly low figure and seems to be due to a number of different reasons. First, there is no universal access to diagnostics and a clear need for the development and implementation of improved access to diagnostics. Second, there seemed to be little effective use of information technology for data linkage. Harnessing existing data through better use of
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information technology and data linkage was discussed in only a small number of NAPs. Last and perhaps most importantly there was an inconsistent laboratory capacity across different countries, which is to be expected. There was clearly a need to investigate the role of diagnostics in different contexts and to introduce those technologies that meet local needs and capacity and to develop training mechanisms for staff in technology and diagnostics. This was a theme we returned to later in the meeting in a talk by Ivor Mitchelmore on setting up a
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UK Health Security Agency / Open Government Licence v3.0
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