Medical Discovery News
Science permeates everyday life. Yet the understanding of advances in biomedical science is limited at best. Few people make the connection that biomedical science is medicine and that biomedical scientists are working today for the medicine of tomorrow. Our weekly five-hundred-word newspaper column (http://www.illuminascicom.com/) and two-minute radio show provide insights into a broad range of biomedical science topics. Medical Discovery News is dedicated to explaining discoveries in biomedical research and their promise for the future of medicine. Each release is designed to stimulate listeners to think, question and appreciate how science affects their health as well as that of the rest of the world. We also delve into significant biomedical discoveries and portray how science (or the lack of it) has impacted health throughout history.
Medical Discovery News
Quick and Accurate Detection of Pathogens
957 Quick and Accurate Detection of Pathogens
Welcome to Medical Discovery News. I’m Dr David Niesel
And I’m Dr. Norbert Herzog.
Infections of the central nervous system or CNS are often serious and sometimes deadly and yet, determining which pathogen is causing the infection remains challenging.
To find whether a virus or bacteria is the cause of someone’s brain inflammation, doctors need a tissue sample, grow it in the lab, and then test it to identify it. Often the tests involve using antibodies of known pathogens.
We have technology that gets around having to grow the sample, but it also only works if we have a good guess of what’s causing the infection. It’s like trying to identify a criminal only if you already know who they are!
Today, we know the cause of just half of all CNS infections, making them tough to treat. However, scientists have developed a test called mNGS or metagenomic next-generation sequencing.
Using cerebrospinal fluid, the test can simultaneously detect a range of microorganisms, including bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites in just hours.
Researchers took seven years to develop the test and then checked its effectiveness on nearly five thousand samples.
Among the hundreds of positive samples, nearly eight hundred organisms were identified. Because it scans all genetic material, it can detect rare pathogens, making it valuable for diagnosing mystery infections.
The downside is that at three thousand dollars, only patients in rich countries can afford the test for now.
We are Drs. David Niesel and Norbert Herzog, at UTMB and Quinnipiac University, where biomedical discoveries shape the future of medicine. For much more and our disclaimer go to medicaldiscoverynews.comor subscribe to our podcast. Sign up for expanded print episodes at www.illuminascicom.com
