Hopes of a single genetic test for antimicrobial susceptibility are a long way from being realised, European experts have warned.
The first problem is that genetic methods cannot yet be used on some important bacterial species, according to the European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing.
The group says there is little evidence that in the "near future" a single assay will be able to predict how a species of bacteria will respond to a specific drug.
Other problems include questions about the accuracy of different whole genome sequencing laboratories, they say.
And, they say, the technology cannot yet be used to analyse specimens – but requires bacteria to be cultivated first.
The findings of the group are being published in Clinical Microbiology and Infection, the journal of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.
Professor Gunnar Kahlmeter of the Central Hospital, Växjö, Sweden, the technical data coordinator for the group, said: “To be of use in a clinical situation, whole genome sequencing will need to predict antimicrobial resistance and also antimicrobial susceptibility, which are two quite different things.
"It will also be necessary for whole genome sequencing to quantify the degree of resistance for an organism, something which is currently not possible.”
Are breakpoints for phenotypic susceptibility testing no longer needed?
Clinical Microbiology and Infection in press [abstract]
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