About this Research Topic

Background

It is understood that the continual rise in Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) is a global problem with few potential solutions. One of the most pressing needs is advanced diagnostics to ascertain bacterial and fungal susceptibilities. This process is undertaken as part of the normal clinical laboratory workflow and is an essential step in confirming clinicians' decisions, and escalating or de-escalating treatment. The throughput and speed of the current tests leave much to be desired with common turn-around times (TaTs) in excess of 48 hours for even the most critical patients. Novel diagnostics that can determine antimicrobial susceptibility in <30 minutes have been an international goal and have been focussed by events such as the Longitude prize in 2014. In this series of articles, we will showcase the latest techniques emerging from research institutions and businesses set to push back the oncoming tsunami that is AMR.

The current state-of-the-art antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) devices are too slow. Even in the most urgent cases, results are often returned in >24 hours. This means a clinician's decision regarding empirical therapy is crucial and must be made in the absence of data.

Rapid diagnostics could spell an end to empirical therapy and lead to a future of evidence-based medicine for all. When AST has been used effectively rates of resistance drop and regimes such as antibiotic stewardship are possible. Stewardship is used in order to preserve the antibiotics we currently have and protect them for the future.

This research topic aims to highlight the new and emerging techniques and technologies that can address these problems; making stewardship more efficient and effective, and making sure the patient gets the correct antibiotic before the clinician is forced to undertake empirical treatment. This will therefore mean a reduction in the risk of resistance arising in the community and will ensure the patient is on the correct treatment, reducing morbidity and mortality and adding quality of life, even in non-life-threatening cases.

This research topic has a very broad scope. We wish to encompass all potential solutions to slow AST including genomic and genetic technologies and techniques, phenotypic techniques and immunological techniques as well as hybrid methods and methods that do not fit neatly into any of these categories.

We wish to publish on emerging technologies and techniques, novel applications for older technologies that answer new questions within the scope of this topic, and additional work showing current systems can be adapted or workflows altered to bring results to the patient faster than is currently possible.

Accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity are still paramount, and work shown to be more rapid but with low sensitivity will have a lower priority unless the work shows other merits.

Manuscripts can be reviews of current technologies, meta-analyses of techniques, and primary research. Other article types may be considered.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Editorial
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Editorial
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: AMR, Antibiotic susceptibility, Resistance, Diagnostics, Point of Care

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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