About C. difficile infection in the US
In the United States, CDI is the leading cause of infectious antibiotic-associated diarrhea with 293 000 infections per year[i] representing $4.8 billion in additional healthcare cost per year[ii]. CDI poses many challenges to health institutions, among which is being able to efficiently test the patients at risk.
Traditional testing methods for identification of toxigenic C. difficile, such as toxigenic culture and enzyme immunoassays (EIA), have been found to be labor intensive, to increase delays and, to have limited sensitivity[iii].
There exists a need for a faster and simpler testing algorithm. According to the 2010 guidance from the American Society for Microbiology, nucleic acid amplification tests detecting C. difficile toxin genes may be used as a stand-alone test[iv]. In fact, those molecular tests provide sensitive, specific and timely identification of patients with toxigenic C. difficile infection, and exhibit better performance than toxin EIAs[v].
According to Dr Nathan Ledeboer from the Medical College of Wisconsin, in Milwaukee: "It all starts with timely diagnosis of C. difficile infections to critically impact patient management and ensure proper implementation of infection control practices". Dr Nathan Ledeboer participated in a multicentric clinical trial, evaluating GenePOC CDiff test for use on the revogene instrument.
About GenePOC CDiff test
The GenePOC CDiff assay is a qualitative in vitro diagnostic test to detect the toxin B (tcdB) gene of toxigenic C. difficile in unformed (liquid or soft) stool specimens obtained from patients suspected of having CDI. Performing this test enables healthcare professionals to detect the presence of toxigenic C. difficile within 70 minutes after loading the patient sample in the test cartridge or PIE. Early and accurate detection can lead to better control and management of CDI, which in turn can improve patient management and reduce the risk of transmission.
"A simple one-step algorithm to detect toxigenic C. difficile, using a clinical test with excellent performance, will inevitably contribute to better control the spread of CDI and reduce outbreaks" says Dr Patrice Allibert, CEO of GenePOC. "What makes our assay so unique is its right balance between sensitivity and specificity. This translates into the ability to identify patients with CDI from a single GenePOC CDiff test, a molecular test with less than 1% unresolved rate according to clinical trial results. Our test is performed on the affordable, user-friendly revogene instrument which can be directly connected to the hospital and laboratory information systems (LIS/HIS), for seamless transmission and communication of actionable results", Patrice Allibert continued.
References
i. Dubberke et al. Clin Infect Dis 2012; 55: S88-92.
ii. Lessa et al. N Engl J Med 2015; 372(9):825-834.
iii. Carroll KC. Tests for the diagnosis of Clostridium difficile infection: the next generation Anaerobe. 2011 Aug;17(4):170-4.
iv. Cohen SH, Gerding DN, Johnson S, et al. Clinical practice guidelines for Clostridium difficile infection in adults: 2010 update by the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) and the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA). Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2010; 31:431-55.
v. Wilcox MH, Planche T, Fang FC. What is the current role of algorithmic approaches for diagnosis of Clostridium difficile infection? J Clin Microbiol, 2010, vol. 48 (pg. 4347-4353).