‘The silent pandemic’ — AMR: the importance of point-of-care testing

The state of point-of-care testing technology is improving and there still is room to grow to find the right balance to test for viral and bacterial infection, then prescribing the right medicines to treat the illness. Jason G. Newland, MD, MEd, is division chief of infectious diseases for Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, offers his take on rapid testing.

Medical Economics: What is the state of technology for point of care testing for viral or bacterial infection?

Jason G. Newland, MD, MEd: Point of care testing, this testing right when you walk into an emergency department that gives you a result immediately. Or maybe you go to your local clinic, where they have some these, usually molecular based, where we can use DNA, RNA of the viruses, has been tremendously helpful. So if I know a child has RSV, it makes it easier not to use an antibiotic. I do think there has to be a combination of this. And I think from the viral standpoint, the technology has improved. We need more of it. We need more point of care, and then we need to learn how to use it the correct ways, because there are certain situations where they have no stigmata of a bacterial infection, and it's clearly viral, that you don't necessarily need the viral test. But we have gotten more sophisticated, and we know during the COVID pandemic that that was key, right? Knowing someone had COVID was super important because we knew then we could isolate. We knew we could do that. Influenza is another great example. We have a drug for influenza, right? Oseltamivir is a great antiviral. We need to learn who needs to use it more than others, but we know it can be effective in preventing serious disease, especially among those with high risk conditions like asthma, for children. So being able to identify that and then give them that is important, and I do think that as more companies and we're blessed to be in an environment, in a place where they can develop, we need to still encourage that so that we can maybe identify more viruses at times. But we don't always have to, and I think that's a balance we still have to figure out in our health care environment.