The search for a new in vitro diagnostic test to distinguish between bacterial and viral infections has been a holy grail for healthcare professionals for many years. A rapid, accurate bacterial or viral infection test would enable healthcare workers to screen out those patients with a viral infection. This would then reduce the unnecessary prescribing of antibiotics. This would not only lead to better treatment for patients but also help to reduce the risk of antibiotic resistance.
An Israeli company, MeMed, has claimed to be able to do just that. Its BV test has recently approved by the US FDA. As discussed in a recent article in the Financial Times, the new test appears to measure proteins in a patient’s blood characteristic of the type of the infection they have. Protein biomarkers have been around for a long time in diseases such as cancer and heart disease. It’s great news to hear of new biomarkers specific to bacterial or viral infections.
Like all new tests of this type, a thorough evaluation needs to be conducted. We must know more about its sensitivity, precision, reproducibility, specificity and accuracy. These are standard terms used to quality control new diagnostics. I look forward to seeing a peer reviewed publication of an independent study of the diagnostic in practice.
Applications for our research
Our charity is seeking funds to conduct a study on antibiotic stewardship in the community. This test might have potential application in our study. However, the cost of the new test and the equipment needed may be prohibitive. For widespread, point of care testing in the community the price would need to drop down to between $5 – 10 per test, otherwise its use is limited to a specialist lab such as found in a hospital.
I look forward to seeing more data on the accuracy of this test as well more tests of this kind coming to market. It is innovation like this that we need in the fight against antibiotic resistance. Read the full article on the Financial Times website.