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POINT-OF-CARE DIAGNOSTICS

Detection of bacterial infection via a fidget spinner

Nature Biomedical Engineering volume 4, pages 577–578 (2020)Cite this article

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A custom fidget spinner that uses centrifugal forces to concentrate bacterial pathogens in urine samples enables the rapid on-device colorimetric detection of urinary tract infections and the testing of the pathogen’s susceptibility to antibiotics.

The detection of bacterial infections has considerable limitations. On one hand, it often requires trained technicians and bulky equipment that is not available in rural communities in resource-limited settings; on the other hand, conventional culture-based methods for the detection of bacterial infections take three to five days. The lack of rapid tools for the detection of bacterial pathogens increases the usage of broad-spectrum antibiotics, leading to unnecessary treatment, to the perturbation of the body’s gut microbiota and to ineffective antibiotic selection, which is associated with poor clinical outcomes and, critically, promotes the emergence of multidrug-resistant bacteria. Therefore, the fast determination of the presence or absence of bacterial pathogens at a clinically significant concentration is an important unmet clinical need, which ideally should be complemented with the ability to rapidly characterize the antimicrobial resistance profile of the bacterial pathogen to assist in selecting the most effective and specific antibiotics for the patient. Reporting in Nature Biomedical Engineering, Yoon-Kyoung Cho and colleagues now describe a palm-sized point-of-care testing device resembling a fidget spinner for the rapid diagnosis of bacterial infections1.

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Fig. 1: Diagnostic fidget spinner for the detection of urinary-tract infections.

References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biomedical Engineering, CBEB, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA

    Hui Li, Peter Torab & Pak Kin Wong

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, CBEB, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA

    Pak Kin Wong

Authors
  1. Hui Li
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  2. Peter Torab
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  3. Pak Kin Wong
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Correspondence to Pak Kin Wong.

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Li, H., Torab, P. & Wong, P.K. Detection of bacterial infection via a fidget spinner. Nat Biomed Eng 4, 577–578 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41551-020-0571-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41551-020-0571-4

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