New MRSA Tests

Reported September 2007

Sunnyvale, Calif. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Can a hospital make you sick? Actually, it can. The CDC reports over 60 percent of hospital patients can get a staph infection called MRSA. But now, a tool used to fight terrorism can fight disease in our own area hospitals.

Maureen Daly lost her 63 year old mother to a bacteria called MRSA. Resistant to most antibiotics, doctors call MRSA the "super-bug."

"She was trapped in her body and the infection, the MRSA, just kept ravaging and ravaging her system," Daly says.

MRSA staph infections contracted in the hospital can be dangerous if undetected. But now, hospitals can count on a new expert that can identify MRSA in just two hours. Inside the Gene Xpert, manufactured by Cepheid, MRSA DNA is removed from the patient's sample and then made bigger to confirm the diagnosis.

"MRSA is becoming rampant in the health care system and it's costing upwards of 40 billion dollars a year in excess healthcare costs., John Schiefer, a Cepheid technician, says.

Gene Xpert can also be used to confirm entero-virus meningitis and group B strep in patients. But its original function -- fighting terrorism. In 2001, when anthrax laced letters threatened the United States, testing technology needed to be upgraded and simplified...fast.

"Every hour, our mail is getting sniffed for the presence of anthrax spores," David Persing from Cepheid, says.

Quick results are crucial. A patient with MRSA immediately serves as a reservoir for transmission. As patients get sicker, hospital bills go up.

"Any kind of test costs money, but the up-front investment is well worth it," Persing says.

Cutting costs, without cutting corners.

Click here to Go Inside This Science or contact:

Christianne Johnson (PAO)
(781) 684-0770
cjohnson@schwartz-pr.com

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