New blood test ‘could detect deadly sepsis in FOUR HOURS – rather than days, in which time it can kill’
A BLOOD test could help detect deadly sepsis in just four hours - giving medics precious extra time to treat the potentially fatal condition.
Current testing methods for sepsis, also referred to as blood poisoning or septicaemia, take at least two days - however, if left untreated, sepsis can kill in that time.
But now, researchers from Texas Tech University in the United States have filed a provisional patent for a tiny glass-and-plastic chip that can confirm a sepsis diagnosis in a fraction of the time.
Dr Dimitri Pappas, explained: "Normally when you detect sepsis, you do it through bacterial culture; that takes two days on the short end to 15 days on the long end.
"Most people die of sepsis at two days. The detection currently is on the exact same time scale as mortality, so we're trying to speed that up.
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"Instead of the bacteria, we're looking at the body's immune response to those bacteria, because that's what you really care about. The bacteria cause the infection, but it's the body's response that causes sepsis."
The chips are designed to look for the activation of certain white blood cells, which would indicate the immune system was going to work to fight the infection.
What is sepsis?
- Sepsis is also known as blood poisoning or septicaemia
- It is more common than heart attacks and kills more than cancer
- It occurs when the immune system goes into overdrive as it fights an infection
- It reduces blood supply to vital organs, and can cause loss of limbs
- It is life-threatening without quick treatment of antibiotics
- Early symptoms include a high or low body temperature, shivering, a fast heartbeat and fast breathing
It requires less than a drop of blood for an accurate test, so doctors can test multiple times to determine the occurrence of sepsis - and retest during treatment to make sure the body is returning to normal.
So far, all testing has been done with the help of stem cells - and due to its success, the next step is to test with human blood, researchers said.
Graduate student Ye Zhang, who also worked on the chip, said: "With early diagnosis, appropriate treatments can be conducted in time and sepsis progression can be controlled.
"Many lives can be saved with this project by shortening diagnosis time and speeding up intervention time."
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