Tiny sensors provide a quick test for MRSA

MRSA is one particularly nasty staph infection. The bacteria enters your body through a cut or a sore. Then there's pus, there's pain, there's fever, and there's little relief from antibiotics.

If you wise up to your MRSA infection early on, you can sometimes get rid of it just by draining the skin infection (yes, still gross). But once MRSA advances, you'll likely have to spend some time in the hospital dealing with intravenous drugs, kidney dialysis, and an oxygen tank.

Scottish researchers have a developed a small strip of electronic sensors that detect MRSA.

In conventional tests, doctors take a swab from your infected wound, then process the swab in a laboratory to check for MRSA bacteria. This can take a full day to complete.

The new electronic sensor strip could lead to immediate at-home MRSA testing. The researchers hope that by making MRSA testing easier, patients will be more likely to test for it earlier on, when the bacteria is easier to treat.

Researchers originally developed the sensor test on foot ulcers of diabetic patients. MRSA is more likely to necesitate amputation in people with diabetes. An at-home test for the bacteria could provide diabetes patients with a valuable tool to prevent the need for such life-altering surgery.

Photo: Eric E.Castro/Flickr

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com