Rapid MRSA testing comes a step closer to reality

Major breakthrough in the fight against MRSA, which will reduce the time taken to diagnose from up to five days, to under five hours, is only a few months away

In an unassuming complex of buildings in rural Wiltshire, UK, development of a diagnostic platform that could save hundreds of lives and millions of pounds is well under way.

Acolyte Biomedica is in the final development phase of BacLite, a rapid and cost-effective MRSA screening test which will reduce the time taken to diagnose MRSA from up to five days, to under five hours.

As an aid to reducing the spread of MRSA among hospital staff and patients, BacLite could potentially save hundreds of lives and millions of pounds for the NHS each year.

The BacLite MRSA test detects the organism directly from nasal swabs and uses a combination of traditional microbiology techniques familiar to biomedical scientists and therefore making it applicable to most microbiology laboratories.

These techniques are combined with the unique sensitivity of adenylate kinase (AK) bioluminescence to enable such rapid results.

In-house trials have shown high levels of sensitivity and with reagent development complete, Acolyte scientists are now finalising system optimisation/ design.

Coming to the aid of overstretched biomedical scientists, the BacLite MRSA test will be easier to interpret than current techniques which require a high level of technical training and judgement.

Commenting on the test's potential Bill Mullen, the company CEO, said "By avoiding the need for complex technologies the test can be performed in the local laboratory rather than sent to a reference service.

This means testing speed can be exploited to the full.

We are really excited about BacLite's potential and look forward to making a significant contribution to the control of this serious infection".

Acolyte Biomedica plans to launch BacLite in the second quarter of 2005.

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