OD-600

Abstract

Antibiotics are among the most commonly prescribed drugs used in human medicine. The global consumption of antibiotic rose by 40% during 2000-2010. This has caused the infectious micro-organisms to develop resistance towards antibiotics. Recent survey suggest that antibiotic resistive infections has claimed the lives of 50,000 people in US and Europe in 2016. Moreover, it has been estimated that by 2050, 10 million people would die annually due to these infections. One of the main reason for the wide spread of antibiotic resistive infections are the incorrect prescription of antibiotics. Doctors prescribe antibiotics only on the basis of symptoms because the conventional methods of infection testing are cumbersome, time consuming and require great precision. Therefore, an efficient and systematic infection testing device is required. OD-600 is a low cost portable electronic device for measuring resistance in infectious micro-organisms towards antibiotics, which will provide microbiologists at Hospitals, Testing Laboratories and Medical Institutes with an efficient infection testing method. The device would consist of a 3D printed tube holder, fitted with three 600nm LEDs at one side and three Light to frequency sensors on the other side forming a Spectrophotometer. By detecting the amount of light transmitted, the device will measure the Optical Density (OD) of bacteria sample during its interaction with antibiotics. The measured OD values will be sent to the online web portal through a WIFI module, where they will be stored in the form of graphs, tracking the life cycle of the bacteria sample. The resistance of infection will then be evaluated with the help of graphical analysis.