AdvanDx's PNA FISH(TM) Test Shown to Reduce Mortality by 42% for Patients With Hospital-Acquired Enterococcus faecium Bloodstream ...( Two Days Faster Test Results Enable P...)

Two Days Faster Test Results Enable Physicians to Direct Earlier, Effective Antimicrobial Therapy for Patients with Drug Resistant Hospital-Acquired

Infections and Save Lives(1)

WOBURN, Mass., Oct. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- AdvanDx today announced that a new medical study demonstrated use of AdvanDx's PNA FISH(TM) test reduced mortality by 42% for patients with highly drug resistant Hospital-Acquired Enterococcus faecium bloodstream infections (BSI's). In addition, the study demonstrated that PNA FISH reduced the time to reporting of laboratory identification results for all enterococcal BSI's by 2.6 days and reduced time to appropriate antimicrobial therapy for E. faecium BSI's by 1.8 days. The study was undertaken by clinicians at the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) in Baltimore, Maryland and published in the latest issue of Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.(1)

Bloodstream infections due to Enterococcus bacteria, predominantly Enterococcus faecalis and E. faecium, are often acquired while patients are in the hospital and can lead to increased mortality, longer hospital stays and increased healthcare costs. The infection is initially diagnosed when a culture of the patient's blood turns positive with Gram-positive cocci in pairs and chains (GPCPC), indicative of enterococci and/or streptococci. Because conventional laboratory identification methods can take 48 hours or longer and early antimicrobial therapy is crucial to ensure positive patient outcomes, physicians often prescribe broad-spectrum antibiotics such as vancomycin to cover the patient. However, this may lead to the administration of inadequate or inappropriate antibiotic treatment as E. faecium is often resistant to both vancomycin (VRE - vancomycin-resistant enterococci) and penicillin-based drugs such as ampicillin while E. faecalis is often susceptible to ampicillin. PNA FISH delivers rapid, molecular identification of E. faecalis and other ente
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