Hong Kong’s Hospital Authority (HKKA) is planning to sort out a notable rise of two superbugs, vancomycin-resistant enterococci and Candida auris, with the assistance of synthetic intelligence (AI).
In accordance with a South China Morning Submit report from Nov. 24, citing the HKKA, the rise within the prevalence of the multidrug-resistant organisms or “superbugs” on the island occurred as a consequence of a redistribution of assets geared toward combating the COVID-19 pandemic over the previous three years. As Dr Raymond Lai, the authority’s chief an infection management officer, instructed journalists:
“A big variety of isolation wards had been allotted to Covid-19 sufferers, leaving fewer wards obtainable for these contaminated with MDROs.”
The COVID-19 pandemic additionally introduced a big rise in broad-spectrum antibiotic prescriptions, resulting in antibiotic resistance improvement throughout the superbugs. In accordance with the HKKA, the antibiotic resistance price of vancomycin-resistant enterococci rose from 0.22% in 2021 to 1.2% in 2023. Sufferers carrying these microorganisms elevated from fewer than 40 in 2021 to round 140 by late September 2023.
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Found in Hong Kong in 2019, Candida auris has witnessed a rise in carriers, hovering from almost 200 in 2020 to greater than 300 by Oct. 31, 2023. Dr. 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, HKKA 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 find out the need of prescribing antibiotics. It’s going to begin from a single common kind of antibiotic after which increase to eight different varieties and 17 public hospitals.
This is not the primary time AI has been used to fight the issue of antibiotic resistance. In Could 2023, AI helped MIT and McMaster College researchers determine a brand new antibiotic that would kill a micro organism chargeable for many drug-resistant infections, Acinetobacter baumannii.
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