Sepsis: New rapid test 'could save thousands of lives'

[Northerner]

A new rapid test for earlier diagnosis of sepsis has been developed by University of Strathclyde researchers, which they say could save thousands of lives.

A microelectrode device analyses the patient's blood, with results coming through in two-and-a-half minutes.

Current diagnosis tests for sepsis can take up to 72 hours.

The researchers hope the low-cost test could come into everyday use in three to five years.

It is estimated that 52,000 people in the UK die every year from sepsis, which is a serious complication of an infection.

The body's immune system starts to attack the body's own organs and the condition can be fatal.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-47279072

 

[mikeyB]

I suppose it is a benefit, but Inerleukin 6 is not specific to sepsis, it can be raised in auto immune conditions, cancer, indeed any inflammatory process. You will still need, above all, a high degree of clinical suspicion, as well as other specific tests such as identifying the infecting bacterium and its sensitivity to antibiotics, which can take 72 hours.

It’s that clinical suspicion that is lacking. The current generation of doctors are used to seeing a patient, and wondering what tests will get you a diagnosis. They hear a heart murmur, and order an echocardiogram instead of distinguishing, as I did, between the murmurs of aortic incompetence or stenosis, mitral valve incompetence or stenosis.

That said, sepsis as a cause of death is less frequent these days. That’s why it gets reported in the papers.