Glow Test for Bacteria

A tremendous improvement found by U.S. researchers should eventually take much of the guesswork out of treatment of subborn infectious diseases.

Despite the "wonder drugs," which kill specific kinds of germs, physicians are still handicapped in starting treatment because in many cases they do not know what kind of germ they are fighting. Hence, they do not know which drug to use. If they take a specimen from a patient, e.g., sputum, spinal fluid, they can grow the bacteria from it and eventually identify them, but this takes about a week. In Atlanta, Bacteriologist Max D. Moody of the U.S. Public Health Service described a method for achieving this result within an hour.

First, a drop of the specimen fluid is smeared on a microscope slide. Then it is covered with a drop of serum (from an animal) containing the antibody which develops when the suspected species of bacteria is present. This serum is tagged with fluorescein, a luminous substance. If the right antibody hits the right germ, the germ starts to glow under the microscope. If the tester has guessed wrong, no glow, and he tries again with other antibodies.

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