Antibiotic resistance is an unprecedented threat to modern medicine. The analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from bacteria potentially offers a rapid way to determine antibiotic susceptibility in bacteria. This study aimed to find the optimal conditions to obtain the maximum number of VOCs detected which next allowed the assessment of differences in VOC profiles between susceptible and resistant isolates of Escherichia coli causing urinary tract infections. The analysis of VOCs in the headspace above the bacterial cultures allowed the distinguishing of resistant and susceptible bacteria based on the abundance of six VOCs with 85.7% overall accuracy. The results of this preliminary study are promising, and with development could lead to a practical, faster diagnostic method for use in routine microbiology.
Keywords: E. coli; antibiotic resistance; bacteria; gas chromatography-mass spectrometry; metabolite; profiles; susceptibility; urinary tract infection; volatile.