Simple test that could help slash sepsis death toll
A BREAKTHROUGH by British scientists could pave the way for the first rapid test for sepsis and meningitis.
Experts have worked out how to identify deadly bacterial infections using a drop of blood from a finger.
The Imperial College London team hopes a test could be available on the NHS within five years, potentially saving hundreds of children’s lives.
It comes after the Daily Mail’s End the Sepsis Scandal revealed how toddler William Mead died in December 2014 after 16 failures to spot the signs that he was seriously ill.
Sepsis, known as the ‘silent killer’, affects an estimated 200,000 people every year in Britain and kills 44,000 – more than breast, bowel and prostate cancer combined. The illness occurs when a bacterial infection – such as septicaemia or blood poisoning – sparks a violent immune response, in which the body attacks its own organs.
A national audit last year found there were delays in diagnosing sepsis in 36 per cent of cases.
The new test would help GPs and hospital doctors to rapidly diagnose whether a child is suffering from a serious bacterial infection or whether a simple virus is to blame.
At the moment the only way to definitively diagnose an infection is by trying to grow bacteria in a sample of blood – a 48-hour process that has barely changed in 100 years.
But the Imperial team has identified two genes in white blood cells which switch on when there is an infection present.
They think the discovery will lead to a finger-prick test which could reveal a result in minutes, flashing up a coloured light in a similar way to a pregnancy test.
Study leader Professor Michael Levin, whose results are published in the JAMA medical journal, said: ‘It is perfectly feasible that within a fiveyear period we could have a test available to NHS hospitals. But for that to happen, we need input from biotech companies.’
Vinny Smith, of the Meningitis Research Foundation, which helped recruit patients for the study, said: ‘This development is very exciting.’