Direct urine polymerase chain reaction for chlamydia and gonorrhoea: a simple means of bringing high-throughput rapid testing to remote settings?

Abstract

The results of this study show that the simplified PCR strategy may be a feasible approach for rapid screening and improving chlamydia and gonorrhoea treatment in remote settings.

Surfactant-enhanced DNA accessibility to nuclease accelerates phenotypic β-lactam antibiotic susceptibility testing of Neisseria gonorrhoeae

“…We envision that nuc-aAST would be deployed in combination with two complementary technologies: (1) the pathogen ID technologies that are being developed by others [20,21,23,24] to identify Ng-positive samples that require an AST and (2) rapid genotypic and/or phenotypic ASTs that rely on NA readouts for other antibiotics used in the treatment of Ng, including fluoroquinolones (CIP) [25,51,81] and protein synthesis inhibitors (TET and AZM) [81]. Assuming these two complementary technologies are developed and validated, further development of nuc-aAST would provide the last-and we would argue the most challengingpiece needed for a complete rapid ID/AST workflow for Ng based on NA readout.…”

“…Then, an AST must be run on the sample to determine whether the infecting strain of Ng is susceptible to the available antibiotics, so that the correct treatment can be prescribed. The health crisis associated with antibiotic-resistant infections is internationally recognized [19], and substantial efforts (both academic [20][21][22] and commercial [23,24]) are making great progress toward shortening the time required to identify Ng infections. However, there is no published path toward development of a rapid phenotypic AST for Ng, especially for β-lactam antibiotics.…”