Philadelphia Hospital Finds Faster Way To Identify What Is Making You Sick
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A local hospital has found a way to identify what is making some sick, a bit faster.
When patients enter the emergency room with what appears to be a bacterial or fungal infection, doctors need to identify the type and that can take time.
Dr. Herbert Auerbach, chairman of the Pathology Department at Abington-Jefferson Health says it can take several days to grow a sample and identify it.
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Sometimes the patient is given medication, but it may not be the best one.
Now Auerbach says he has an instrument that quickly identifies the strain that is making you sick.
"Time to accurate diagnoses is being reduced by about 24 hours, but it's not going to give instant results, so it's still going to take 1-2 days to get an accurate diagnosis," he said.
This system allows doctors to know more quickly which medication is the right one for that patient.