Today at IDWeek, Dr. Paul Rhodes, CEO of Specific Technologies, presented results of a study performed at Stanford University Medical Center, demonstrating rapid detection and simultaneous identification of bacterial species and strains during blood and plate culture.
The Specific Technologies' rapid, low cost, blood culture system based upon its groundbreaking metabolic sensor system promises a new, powerful diagnostic tool for hospital epidemiologists in the identification and disruption of outbreaks in near real-time, which is not presently possible.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has identified the reduction of healthcare associated infections (HAIs) as an agency priority goal. According to the HHS at any given time, about 1 in every 20 inpatients has an infection related to hospital care. These infections cost the U.S. health care system billions of dollars each year and lead to the loss of tens of thousands of lives.
In the study reported at IDWeek, over 1600 individual experiments were performed with a minimum of 12 technical replicates per strain. 17 different species of bacteria tested were identified with overall 95% accuracy over 1631 trials. Strain identification accuracy varied by species, but generally exceeded 90% accuracy.
The study showed remarkable correspondence with genetic classification. The Specific Technologies system grouped genetically related strains together, further supporting the studies conclusion that the metabolomic fingerprint of bacteria is strain-specific.
Specific Technologies has developed a system to identify microorganisms by their metabolomic signature as they grow in culture before molecular methods can even begin. Most molecular methods start after culture and require expensive instruments, additional process and labor. The Specific Technologies system is inexpensive, and can be integrated into existing lab procedures, providing identification of species and strain while lowering lab labor and equipment cost.
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