Were he alive today, would Louis Pasteur still champion culture methods he pioneered over 150 years ago for identifying bacterial pathogens? Or, might he suggest that new molecular techniques may prove a better way forward for quickly detecting the true microbial diversity of wounds? As modern clinicians faced with treating complex patients with diabetic foot infections (DFI), should we still request venerated and familiar culture and sensitivity methods, or is it time to ask for newer molecular tests, such as 16S rRNA gene sequencing? Or, are molecular techniques as yet too experimental, non-specific and expensive for current clinical use? While molecular techniques help us to identify more microorganisms from a DFI, can they tell us ‘who done it?', that is, which are the causative pathogens and which are merely colonizers? Furthermore, can molecular techniques provide clinically relevant, rapid information on the virulence of wound isolates and their antibiotic sensitivities? We herein review current knowledge on the microbiology of DFI, from standard culture methods to the current era of rapid and comprehensive ‘crime scene investigation' (CSI) techniques.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/610294 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Spichler, Anne, Hurwitz, Bonnie L., Armstrong, David G., Lipsky, Benjamin A. |
| Contributors | Deparment of Medicine, University of Arizona Health Science Center, Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, University of Arizona, Department of Surgery, Southern Arizona Limb Salvage Alliance (SALSA), University of Arizona Health Sciences Center, Service of Infectious Diseases, Geneva University Hospitals and Department of Medicine, University of Geneva, Division of Medical Sciences, Green Templeton College, University of Oxford |
| Publisher | BioMed Central Ltd |
| Source Sets | University of Arizona |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Article |
| Rights | © 2015 Spichler et al.; licensee BioMed Central. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) |
| Relation | http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/13/2 |
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