Metabolic preference assay for rapid diagnosis of bloodstream infections

Bloodstream infections (BSIs) pose a significant threat, causing substantial morbidity and mortality. Current diagnostic methods for identifying BSI pathogens and determining antimicrobial susceptibility take 2-5 days, contributing to delayed treatment and increased mortality. This paper introduces a rapid metabolic preference assay (MPA) that uses metabolic flux patterns in ex-vivo microbial cultures to identify common pathogens and determine antimicrobial susceptibility profiles within under 20 hours, significantly reducing testing timelines compared to existing methods like VITEK 2. This assay has the potential to reduce septic shock mortality and optimize antibiotic use.

Thomas Rydzak, Ryan A Groves, Ruichuan Zhang, Raied Aburashed, Rajnigandha Pushpker, Maryam Mapar, Ian A Lewis