Use of Molecular Assays for HIAs Growing Rapidly

Molecular tests that can quickly identify hospital- acquired infections (HIAs) are rapidly becoming more popular.

The most serious HAIs include methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Clostridium difficile, which causes an intestinal infection), Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus, linked with intestinal, skin and blood infections, and drug-resistant Acinetobacter, which can cause pneumonia, skin, and blood infections.

There are several approaches to HAI detection. On the conservative and least expensive side are chromogenic growth media that permit the selective growth of MRSA bacteria and produce a colored colony that is easily recognizable. On the more expensive side, there has been an explosion of user-friendly molecular assays that are widely accepted.

Kalorama Information (Rockville, MD, USA), a healthcare market research publisher, has reported that molecular tests that can quickly identify patients for isolation and treatment are being utilized despite their higher cost. Kalorama forecasts that revenues for molecular tests that detect HAIs will grow at 25% per year for the next five years.

"They are growing at four times the rate of the average IVD products,” said Shara Rosen, senior diagnostic analyst for Kalorama Information and the author of the report. "HAIs are a huge problem and this is an opportunity for the most logical tests to treat them.”

The advantage of these molecular tests is that they can provide highly sensitive rapid turnaround results. Cepheid (Sunnyvale, CA, USA), Becton Dickinson (BD; Franklin Lakes, CA, USA), and Seegene (Seoul, Korea) are among the companies with products used to test for HAIs.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC; Atlanta, GA, USA) estimates that HAIs affect nearly 2 million Americans annually, resulting in 90,000 deaths and up to US $6.5 billion in extra costs.

Kalorama Information supplies the latest in independent market research in the life sciences, as well as a full range of custom research services.

Related Links:
Cepheid
Becton Dickinson
Seegene
Kalorama Information
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention