News release overview
Rapid Selection of Effective Antimicrobials for Patients with Septicemia using an ATP Luminescence Technique
Expedites testing procedure duration from blood collection to antimicrobial susceptibility testing from 3+ days to 1, optimizes antimicrobial treatment for patients with septicemia, and contributes to the prevention of spreading antimicrobial resistant bacteria
A research group led by Associate Professor Hideki NIIMI of the Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences for Research at the University of Toyama (National University Corporation) and Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE: 6501, "Hitachi") have developed a novel technique for rapid determination of effective antimicrobial treatment for patients with septicemia. The technique comprises of a simple sample preparation technique that eliminates all non-pathogen ATP in positive blood culture samples, a rapid ATP luminescence measurement*1 technique, and a machine learning-based antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) analysis. Blood samples from patients at the University of Toyama and 63 E. coli strains were used, and a testing procedure using the new technique was verified. Results revealed that using standard testing procedures, the total duration from blood collection to AST takes above 3 days, but this was expedited to about 1 day with our testing procedure. The rapid administration of effective antimicrobials to patients with septicemia would reduce mortality rate, medical costs due to shorter hospitalization days, and medicine administration periods and prevent the spread of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria*2 due to overuse of antimicrobials.
*1 ATP luminescence measurement: a method in which bacteria are detected using luciferase (a luminous enzyme in fireflies) to induce luminescence in adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is used as an energy source in all living organisms (including bacteria). Bacterial activities can be analyzed to a high degree of sensitivity by selectively detecting luminescence of ATP from living bacteria.
*2 Antimicrobial-resistant bacteria: bacteria against which antimicrobials have no effect, and its increase has become a global issue in recent years. The United Nations has adopted an action plan for preventing the spread of antimicrobial resistance, which also seeks to optimize usage for preventing overuse of antimicrobials.
