Accelr8 Technology Corporation announced results presented at the 51st ICAAC held in Chicago on September 17. As previously announced in July, the presenters received an award for an "outstanding presentation of an abstract accepted by ICAAC." The presentation title is "Same-Shift ID Directly from Respiratory Specimens by Automated Microscopy." It reported results from a study using Accelr8's BACcel™ rapid diagnostic system in collaboration with investigators at the Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis.
The study reported results with 53 bacteria-positive lung specimens from ICU patients. Of these, 16 were positive for the two most common ICU pathogens that can express multi-drug resistance (MDR)--Staphylococcus aureus (the common "Staph") and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The latter Gram-negative organism is one of the most complex and difficult to treat MDR threats found in hospital-acquired infections.
Accelr8's BACcel™ rapid diagnostic system correctly identified 9/9 S. aureus and 7/7 P. aeruginosa directly from specimen samples. It also correctly identified the lack of these target organisms in the remaining 37 specimens, yielding detection sensitivity and specificity of 100% and 100%, respectively.
ICAAC (www.icaac.org) is the annual Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. Organized by the American Society for Microbiology (www.asm.org), ICAAC is a major global congress for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Medicine.
According to David Howson, Accelr8's president, "We are honored by the recognition from ICAAC's review committee. Results in our outside studies continue to strongly support the system's accuracy and speed. The BACcel™ system continues as the only new technology to demonstrate multiple organism quantitative identification with multiple antibiotic resistance detection. The BACcel system stands alone in directly confronting the relentlessly advancing global pandemic of multiple antibiotic resistance."
Accelr8 Technology Corporation is a developer of innovative materials and instrumentation for advanced applications in medical instrumentation, basic research, drug discovery, and bio-detection. Accelr8 is developing a rapid analytical platform for infectious pathogens, the BACcel™ system, based on its innovative surface coatings, assay processing, and detection technologies. In addition, Accelr8 licenses certain of its proprietary technology for use in applications outside of Accelr8's own products.