Hong Kong’s Hospital Authority is planning to sort out a noteworthy rise of two superbugs — vancomycin-resistant enterococci and Candida auris — with the assistance of synthetic intelligence (AI).
According to a Nov. 24 South China Morning Post report citing the authority, the rise within the prevalence of multidrug-resistant organisms, or superbugs, on the island occurred due to a redistribution of assets aimed toward combating the COVID-19 pandemic over the previous three years. Dr. Raymond Lai, the authority’s chief an infection management officer, advised journalists:
“A significant number of isolation wards were allocated to Covid-19 patients, leaving fewer wards available for those infected with MDROs.”
The COVID-19 pandemic additionally considerably elevated broad-spectrum antibiotic prescriptions, main to antibiotic resistance improvement inside the superbugs. According to the authority, the antibiotic resistance fee of vancomycin-resistant enterococci rose from 0.22% in 2021 to 1.2% in 2023. Patients carrying these microorganisms elevated from fewer than 40 in 2021 to round 140 by late September 2023.
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Discovered in Hong Kong in 2019, there was a rise in Candida auris carriers, leaping from almost 200 in 2020 to greater than 300 by Oct. 31, 2023. Lai cautions that roughly 10% of people harboring this fungus could progress to invasive infections, presenting a mortality threat starting from 53% to 83.3%.
To fight the issue, in January 2024, the Hospital Authority will launch an AI pilot on the Prince of Wales Hospital in Sha Tin and Princess Margaret Hospital in Kwai Chung. The AI will analyze medical knowledge to decide the need of prescribing antibiotics. It will begin from a single common sort of antibiotic and then increase to eight different varieties and 17 public hospitals.
This isn’t the primary time AI has been used to fight the issue of antibiotic resistance. In May 2023, AI helped Massachusetts Institute of Technology and McMaster University researchers determine a brand new antibiotic that might kill a micro organism liable for many drug-resistant infections, Acinetobacter baumannii.
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