16S rRNA Bacterial Identification in Evaluation of Orthopedic Infections and its Limited Role in Antimicrobial Stewardship
Joseph A McBride, Memee Moua, Alana Sterkel, Eduard Matkovic, William Rehrauer, Jens Eickhoff, Marin L Schweizer, David Andes · 2026
Read 16S rRNA Bacterial Identification in Evaluation of Orthopedic Infections and its Limited Role in Antimicrobial Stewardship by Joseph A McBride, Memee Moua, Alana Sterkel, Eduard Matkovic, William Rehrauer, Jens Eickhoff, Marin L Schweizer, David Andes (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13187843.txt.
Description
Joseph A McBride and seven co-authors published a study in 2026 on a gene-based test for bone and joint infections and whether it helps doctors use fewer antibiotics. The test reads a bacterial gene to name the germ when cultures fail. The team reviewed five years of its use at one Midwestern academic hospital before the pandemic.
Across 452 cases the test found bacteria in under ten percent. It rarely missed germs when it did fire, but it caught only a small share of true infections. Antibiotic narrowing did follow testing in the records overall. Still, doctors kept broad drugs in many test-negative cases they judged infectious. The authors conclude the test helps only a minority of patients.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Joseph A McBride, Memee Moua, Alana Sterkel, Eduard Matkovic, William Rehrauer, Jens Eickhoff, Marin L Schweizer, David Andes |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 38 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |