While the modern hospital has a range of sophisticated medical equipment at the disposal of healthcare professionals, things are not so easy out in the field, especially in less-developed areas where the nearest medical facility can be several hours (or days) journey.
This scenario makes the fast identification of pathogenic organisms more difficult. In many cases, a field medic needs to administer a treatment based on a few signs or symptoms. Because of the risk of getting the diagnosis wrong invariably a general antimicrobial is administered. In practice, this may not be the optimal treatment.
In order to speed up diagnosis an area of medical technological innovation is with portable testing devices. One device launched in 2016 is a Polarization Anisotropy Diagnostics instrument (abbreviated to PAD.) The device was devised by two researchers: Hakho Lee, of Massachusetts General Hospital; and Ralph Weissleder, from Harvard Medical School, Boston.
The PAD device uses a novel light-based method for detecting identifiable genetic sequences from specific bacteria, sampled from bodily fluids (including blood, urine, or drainage from a skin abscess.)
The PAD device works by the fluid being transferred into miniature optical cubes. When the filled cubes are transferred onto an electronic base station a chemical reaction begins, designed to amplify the genetic material within (the cubes contain DNA probes designed to detect bacterial genetic sequences.) Within a period of less than two hours, the test results are produced via a signal sent to a smartphone. Along with the test result, a geographical location and time of testing are provided.
The new PAD system is relatively inexpensive (the inventors indicate a cost per test of $2) and straightforward to use, as well as meeting the standard requirements of a rapid microbiological method.
Such devices allow for the most appropriate antibiotic therapy to be administered to a patient. The application is not only useful in remote territories but also in locales where travel to a medical facility is not straightforward, such as with an infirm person in a nursing home.
The new device has been outlined in the journal Science Advances. The research paper is titled “Rapid identification of health care-associated infections with an integrated fluorescence anisotropy system.”
