Test Rapidly Identifies Fungal Pneumonia

A new test will assist medical and scientific professionals to identify the two most common causes of fungal pneumonia, Aspergillus and Pneumocystis.

The assay, FXG: RESP (Asp +), uses real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology to accurately and rapidly identify infections caused by both types of fungi, which account for 95% of cases of fungal pneumonia.

Myconostica (Manchester, UK), a medical diagnostic company that specializes in rapid and highly specific tests for life-threatening fungal infections, announced the launch of the assay, FXG: RESP (Asp +). The real-time PCR technology is combined with Myconostica's fungal DNA extraction system, MycXtra, and the combination provides a rapid, sensitive, and specific alternative to the traditional techniques used to identify Aspergillus and Pneumocystis infection.

The FXG: RESP (Asp +) takes up to four hours to produce a result. Traditional methods used to identify fungal pneumonia infections are inaccurate, insensitive, and slow, and generally take up to two to three days.

Fungal pneumonia is the leading cause of infectious death in leukemia and bone marrow transplant patients and is the most common first manifestation of AIDS. Diagnosis followed by antifungal treatment within the first 10 days of infection reduces the mortality rate from 90% to 40%.

Prof. David Denning, from the University Manchester (Manchester, UK) and chairman and chief medical officer of Myconostica, said, "Early diagnosis of invasive fungal infection significantly improves the chances of survival. This new test from Myconostica will allow healthcare professionals to rapidly identify those patients infected by Aspergillus or Pneumocystis, thus enabling clinicians to prescribe appropriate drugs to treat the infection. Early identification of disease reduces the patient's exposure to inappropriate drug treatments, improves patient outcomes, and reduces the hospitalization and treatment costs associated with invasive fungal disease.”

FXG: RESP (Asp +) is the first in a pipeline of products from Myconostica designed to assist in the diagnosis of fungal disease. Further tests in the FXG series will also target critical fungal infections, such as Candida, which cause sepsis and bloodstream infections.

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University of Manchester