Genes Offer Clues to Cough Cause Method could help reduce antibiotic overuse in acute respiratory illness

Patterns of genetic response to infection can be used to tell if a cough is caused by bacteria, viruses, or neither, and have promise for slowing the inappropriate use of antibiotics, researchers reported. In an observational study, host gene expression classifiers were highly accurate in helping to pin down the cause of community-onset acute respiratory illness in people seeking care at an emergency department, according to Ephraim Tsalik, MD, PhD, of Durham VA Medical Center in Durham, N.C., and colleagues. The test was more accurate in distinguishing bacterial from viral causes than procalcitonin, a biomarker that's increasingly being used in the clinic, and also outperformed previously reported genetic tests, Tsalik and colleagues reported online in Science Translational Medicine. http://www.medpagetoday.com/InfectiousDisease/GeneralInfectiousDisease/55769?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2016-01-22&eun=g721819d0r