CRE is responsible for two recent infection outbreaks, one at Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle and another at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles.
The grant will support research by Denver Health and Accelerate Diagnostics as the two organizations work together to develop a fast, reliable blood test to detect the bacteria in less than three hours.
In addition to detecting the virus, Denver Health hopes to detect antibiotic susceptibility, according to one of the principal investigators on the study Connie Savor Price, MD.
“Accurate and timely detection would allow physicians to make better treatment choices and informed infection prevention measures to prevent further spread of the infection,” said Dr. Price. “That, in turn, would prevent the need for more antibiotic use — which is needed to stop feeding the vicious cycle of antimicrobial resistance.”
More articles on CRE:
FDA issues alert about scopes tied to CRE infections
5 things to know about the hospital ‘superbug’ outbreak at UCLA
enator pushes for FDA action on scopes that led to infections at Virginia Mason
