March 20, 2023 — When a bacterial infection reaches the bloodstream, every second is critical. The patient’s life is on the line. Yet blood tests to identify bacteria take hours to days. While waiting, doctors often prescribe broad-spectrum antibiotics in hopes of killing whatever germ may be at fault.
Someday soon, that wait time could shrink significantly, allowing health care providers to more quickly zero in on the best antibiotic for each infection — thanks to an innovation from Stanford University that identifies bacteria in seconds.
The cutting-edge method relies on old-school tech: an inkjet printer, similar the kind you might have…
