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Table 1 Characteristics of the ideal biomarker of infection [13, 14]

From: Biomarker-guided antibiotic therapy in adult critically ill patients: a critical review

1 ā€ƒEasy to use and interpret

2 ā€ƒObjective

3 ā€ƒRapidly available

4 ā€ƒReproducible

5 ā€ƒGood sensitivity and good specificity

6 ā€ƒDynamic ā€“ rapid increases and decreases

7 ā€ƒLevel not dependent of the underlying pathology and not modified by any treatment or intervention unless interventions related to the source control and/or antibiotic therapy

8 ā€ƒContinuous and not a discrete variable

9 ā€ƒCorrelation with clinical severity and mortality

10 ā€ƒProlonged and successive infections without ā€œexhaustionā€ or ā€œfatigueā€

11 ā€ƒInexpensive

12 ā€ƒEasily available