Challenges in identifying antibiotic resistance targets for point-of-care diagnostics in general practice

Mitsakakis, Konstantinos; Kaman, Wendy E; Elshout, Gijs; Specht, Mara; Hays, John P

Finally, another unanswered question is whether the availability of POC antibiotic resistance data to GPs will actually alter their antibiotic-prescribing practices. GPs may prescribe antibiotics 'just in case' there is a chance of a bacterial infection (even though an available POC diagnostic has already shown the presence of a viral infection). The reasoning here is that an undetected bacterial superinfection may occur on top of the viral infection. Another potential unanswered question is 'how will GPs behave in their antibiotic-prescribing practices when a POC diagnostic device determines the existence of both a viral and bacterial infection? A GP's clinical decision-making will probably depend on the patient's physical examination and the type of virus (influenza virus or coronavirus, for example) and the type of bacterium detected. Interestingly, however, the introduction of antibiotic resistance testing by GPs may help 'persuade' patients that a decision not to prescribe antibiotics is 'rational' and based on scientific testing [46] .