A DEVICE which could be used by doctors and pharmacists to detect patients infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria in as little as 20 minutes has scooped a prestigious international research prize.

Scientists from St Andrews University have been presented with the Longitude Prize Discovery Award at a ceremony at the Royal Society in London tonight [mon] for the development of a light detector which can quickly identify even tiny clusters of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Testing currently takes around 24 hours to produce a result, but the team's device - known as a Scattered Light Integrated Collector (SLIC) - can cut that to as little as 20 minutes.

The tool aims to help patients get the right treatment faster and reduce the risk of antibiotic resistance by helping ensure bacteria are not exposed to antibiotics unnecessarily.

The researchers are now investigating how to to adapt the technology from a laboratory application to something which could be marketed commercially to GPs and pharmacists to help them identify patients who will benefit from antibiotics.

Professor Stephen Gillespie, who heads the university's Orbital Diagnostics team which developed the technology, said: “Our very sensitive device detects bacteria in very small numbers.

"This means when they grow in the presence of antibiotics, we can show that quickly.

"Conventional tests take up to 24 hours – for some bugs we can now do the same job in less than 20 minutes.

“At the moment this promising test can only be used in the laboratory. The challenge is to turn it into a test that can be used in a doctor’s surgery or a pharmacy.”

The Longitude Prize Discovery Award recognises potential breakthroughs in the fight against antibiotic resistance and means the St Andrews researchers can now go on to challenge for the coveted Longitude Prize, a £10 million prize fund.

Dr Robert Hammond, co-inventor and senior scientist said: “We aim to develop SLIC to enable a person with a suspected urinary [tract] infection to give a sample to a practice nurse or pharmacist - then within two hours be given an antibiotic prescription knowing that the infecting bacteria are susceptible.

"This will be faster and better for the individual. It will mean that fewer unnecessary prescriptions will be issued, reducing chances that bugs will develop resistance.”

The UN has identified antibiotic resistant bacteria as a major threat to global health, with an estimated $50 trillion (£40trn) price tag for healthcare if it is not tackled.