Source: Live UTI Free, by Molly Bradbury (October 5, 2026). AI-generated summary by biochip.com, published . Not independently reviewed.
Key takeaways
- NICE assessed 12 point-of-care UTI technologies in 2023, including rapid tests and culture-based systems.
- Sysmex Astrego's PA-100 AST System reports antibiotic susceptibility within 45 minutes and won the £8 million Longitude Prize on AMR in 2024.
- NICE says more evidence is needed on accuracy and use in recurrent UTIs, catheter-associated infections, and older adults.
Point-of-care testing could give clinicians actionable answers about a suspected urinary tract infection (UTI) during the same appointment, rather than after a laboratory culture takes days. Molly Bradbury examines emerging UTI diagnostic technologies, including rapid antimicrobial susceptibility testing, which measures whether bacteria are likely to respond to particular antibiotics. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) assessed 12 such technologies in a 2023 early value assessment. The promise is more targeted treatment, but NICE says further evidence is needed across important patient groups.
Why UTI testing needs to move faster
UTIs affect an estimated 400 million people worldwide each year and are a major reason for antibiotic prescribing in primary care. Yet clinicians commonly must choose between prescribing antibiotics before test results arrive or asking patients to wait while a conventional urine culture is processed in a laboratory.
A standard urine culture, often treated as the clinical reference method, can take two to three days. Bradbury notes that it may miss clinically relevant bacteria and does not provide immediate antibiotic susceptibility information, leaving patients with uncertainty, persistent symptoms, or treatment that may not fit the bacteria involved.
What point-of-care testing does
Point-of-care testing means diagnostic testing performed near the patient, such as in a clinic or walk-in service, rather than at a central laboratory. Think of it as moving part of the lab bench to the examination room: the goal is to make diagnostic information available while a clinician can still use it in that visit.
For UTIs, the most consequential tests aim to identify bacteria and perform antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST). AST checks how organisms in a sample respond to antibiotics, helping a clinician avoid prescribing based only on symptoms or local resistance patterns. This approach could reduce "just-in-case" use of broad-spectrum or ineffective antibiotics.
Rapid and culture-based approaches
NICE divided the 12 assessed technologies into rapid tests, which can return results in as little as 45 minutes, and culture-based tests, which generally take 16 to 24 hours. Rapid approaches include tests that assess antibiotic susceptibility, directly detect key UTI-causing bacteria in urine, measure blood markers associated with bacterial infection, or detect bacterial and host enzymes in urine.
The rapid technologies named in the assessment include Sysmex Astrego's PA-100 AST System, Llusern Scientific's Lodestart DX, Inflammatix's TriVerity, Savyon Diagnostics' Uriscreen, and Global Access Diagnostics' UTRiPLEX. The culture-based group included Flexicult Human, Uricult, Uricult Trio, Uricult Plus, Diaslide, DipStreak, and ChromoStreak.
Culture-based point-of-care systems still depend on bacteria growing in the sample, but they can be used closer to the patient. Depending on the system, they may detect and quantify bacterial growth, identify common organisms, and assess response to selected antibiotics.
The PA-100 AST System
In 2024, Sysmex Astrego's PA-100 AST System won the £8 million Longitude Prize on antimicrobial resistance (AMR), a Challenge Works competition established to encourage affordable, accurate, rapid, and easy-to-use bacterial infection diagnostics. More than 250 teams entered the prize over its ten-year run.
The PA-100 system indicates whether a urine sample contains harmful bacteria within 15 minutes. If bacteria are detected, it returns susceptibility results within 45 minutes from the start of testing for five commonly prescribed antibiotics: amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, ciprofloxacin, fosfomycin, nitrofurantoin, and trimethoprim. Its results follow European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST) standards.
Why This Matters
Antimicrobial resistance occurs when microbes evolve ways to survive medicines intended to kill them. Faster, more specific prescribing could help clinicians select an effective antibiotic sooner and reduce unnecessary exposure to antibiotics, two goals central to antibiotic stewardship.
For patients with recurrent or chronic UTIs, a same-visit result could also mean fewer repeat appointments and less time spent waiting for guidance after a sample is collected. Dr. Brown, a consultant medical microbiologist at Cambridge University Hospitals, said quicker use of the right antibiotic could improve symptom recovery while reducing the risk of serious complications such as sepsis and hospital admission.
These potential benefits are not yet established equally for every setting or patient. NICE highlighted the need for more evidence on diagnostic accuracy and clinical use among people with recurrent UTIs, catheter-associated infections, and older adults. The next test for these systems is whether they can deliver reliable results in routine care while fitting the time, training, and workflow constraints of frontline clinics.
Topics: Diagnostics & precision medicine · Infectious diseases
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