A group of Swedish researchers working at Uppsala University, the SciLifeLab in Stockholm and Uppsala University Hospital have discovered a faster way to identify a bacterial species and its susceptibility to antibiotics.

 Bacteria signal whether they are resistant when they approach antibiotics. If they are resistant to a particular type of antibiotics they continue to grow normally. If they are vulnerable they stop growing. The current method for detecting reisstance can take up to two days; researchers were able to get an answer in about a urinary tract infection in four hours.

The method was able to identify the correct bacteria species and its resistance pattern in all the tests that were analyzed.

Scientists realize, though, that the method needs adjusting to work with more forms of bacteria and infrections, as well as take into accountslow-growing bacteria.