Accurate diagnosis is key to treating pneumonia effectively. However, current diagnostic methods cannot rapidly distinguish between viral and bacterial causes of infection. As a result, patients are often treated empirically with antibiotics, which can lead to inappropriate use and contribute to the growing global threat of antimicrobial resistance.

To address this challenge, researchers have developed a fast, reliable, and affordable detection method tailored for low-resource environments. The team focused on identifying Streptococcus pneumoniae—the most common bacterial cause of pneumonia—using a simplified loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) technique.