International experts explore diagnostics for infectious diseases

A conference in March focused on novel diagnostics for infectious diseases, highlighting the need for improved methods. Current methods often take days to return results, and pathogens can be missed in clinical samples. Approximately 75% of hospitalized cases fail in specific pathogen identification, leading to treatment without knowing the infection’s bacterial or viral nature. Diagnostics are crucial for disease surveillance, monitoring hospital-acquired infections, and combating antimicrobial resistance. Low-resource settings have specific diagnostic needs, with only 15% of the African population having access to diagnostic services.