Recently Medscape published a nice review article on Update and New Treatments for Commonly Encountered Respiratory Virus Infections. (Click here to view the article).
In this article the authors outline the costs and adverse effects of inappropriate antibiotic usage. These include nearly $3 Billion in excess costs from inappropriate or unnecessary antibiotic use. Over 61% of that usage was in the out-patient setting. Other adverse effects include C diff infections, reactions and the increase of community resistance to antibiotics.
The recommendations from the American College of Physicians and the CDC are provided in the article.
4path’s Resp-20 RT-PCR testing can significantly help in the proper diagnosis (and treatment) in patients with acute upper respiratory infections. Knowing what infectious agent your patient has can help in reducing unnecessary antibiotic use, OR proper selection of antimicrobial or anti-viral agents. It can also potentially help reduce hospitalizations from incorrect treatments and reduce the development of community based antimicrobial resistances.
Call 4path today at 877-884-7284 to obtain this testing for your office.
Learn more about the Resp-22 test here. Web Page Download PDF
