NUI Galway project hopes to deliver cost effective tool for rapid diagnosis of pneumonia

Researchers at NUI Galway are involved in a new European project which hopes to deliver a cost effective tool for the speedy diagnosis of infections such as pneumonia. The test would reduce diagnosis time from days to hours, so that the appropriate treatments can be administered as early as possible for the best possible outcome.

Respiratory tract infections, such as pneumonia, are amongst the top four major causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. According to the World Health Organisation, pneumonia is the leading cause of death in children, killing an estimated 1.4 million children under the age of five each year.

"There is an urgent need for rapid diagnostic tests capable of identifying the large range of microorganisms and antibiotic resistances involved with infection", explains Dr Thomas Barry of the Molecular Diagnostics Research Group at NUI Galway. "Speed and accuracy are key to appropriate therapy and survival of the patient. The ultimate objective is to develop new cost effective, user-friendly products that will be routinely used in hospitals. This could replace time-consuming and labour-intensive methods so that a diagnosis can be achieved within a couple of hours, rather than days or weeks."

The diagnostic products for the rapid diagnosis of Respiratory Tract Infections, specifically pneumonia, will be based on a novel 'sample-in, result-out' technology platform.

Source: NUI Galway