Our world is swarming with microbes. Many of them are harmless and provide essential biological functions to maintain the ecosystem of life all around us. Others have a tendency to exploit the human body and make a mess of our health.
A driving force in the losing battle between human defenses and invading microbes is often the lack of precise identification of the microbe causing symptoms. Many of us can relate to a situation where we may feel generalized, vague symptoms of a potential infection, visit the family medicine clinic or the emergency room, report these symptoms, and request care. Clinicians are faced with the difficult assignment of accurately and swiftly identifying the causative infectious agent and selecting the most targeted, effective treatment to rid us of the symptoms and the burden of infection.
While it may seem straightforward and step-wise in nature, this is not so simple or achievable given the current technologies and treatments available. Many patients tend to be treated with “broad spectrum” antibiotics to rid our systems of infectious bugs, introducing a host of side effects and potential for growing resistance in our bodies and environment.
Utah-based IDbyDNA is aiming to change all of this.