New Urine Test Speeds Pneumonia Diagnosis

Doctors can now diagnose a common type of pneumonia much more quickly using a urine test approved Monday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said.

The test, made by Binax Inc., of Portland, Maine, can provide results within 15 minutes, the FDA said.

Speedy results will help doctors provide proper treatment and avoid, in some cases, the needless prescription of antibiotics, which can spur new “superbugs” that are resistant to the drugs.

Other pneumonia tests, usually involving blood or sputum samples, may take several weeks and are often complex and unreliable, the FDA added.

The Binax test can determine whether a person probably has pneumococcal pneumonia, one of the most common types of the illness. The test detects a bacterium known as Streptococcus pneumoniae.

Now, doctors typically prescribe antibiotics for pneumonia without knowing whether a virus or bacteria caused it. Antibiotics do not work against viruses, and needlessly prescribing the drugs promotes the growth of bacteria that resist treatment.

Pneumonia is a lung infection that can be caused by a variety of bacteria or viruses. Only half of the approximately 4 million U.S. cases each year are caused by bacteria, and up to 600,000 are pneumococcal, Binax President and CEO Roger Piasio said in an interview.

That means doctors are prescribing millions of needless antibiotics, Piasio said.

The test is available immediately, Piasio said.