Machine offers hope of one-hour detection of meningitis

A LIFESAVING piece of equipment resembling a small printer could revolutionise the speed at which meningitis is diagnosed – a process which is expensive and dangerously lengthy.

The machine, which is on trial at the Emergency Department of the Royal Victoria Hospital for Sick Children in Belfast, takes a blood or saliva sample which can produce results within an hour, say scientists at Queen’s University Belfast.

Early detection and treatment is vital for a successful outcome if meningitis is suspected, so the speed of the new test is being hailed as a groundbreaking development.

Professor Mike Shields, of Queen’s University and the Belfast Trust said the real advantage is that it has the potential to be a simple bedside test – rapid, cheap, easy to use and which doesn’t require laboratory trained staff.

Doctors currently admit and treat with antibiotics any child they suspect of having meningococcal disease while they await the traditional test results that take between 24 and 48 hours.

Some children are not diagnosed in the early stages while others are admitted and treated “just in case” when they don’t actually have the disease.

“There is no other rapid test that can confirm the diagnosis in such a short time. The current tests are expensive and take up to two days to obtain. Speedy identification of the cause of infection can enable doctors to make life-saving decisions about the treatment of patients. If we have the results within an hour we will be able to start the appropriate course of treatment right away,” he said.

Prof Shields said alongside saving lives, early detection can potentially improve outcomes for meningitis patients who are often left with life-altering conditions such as deafness and cerebral palsy.

“The new test is very different to standard culture- based detection methods that have been used up until now,” he said.

“In recent years molecular diagnostic tests, that use the DNA finger print from ‘bugs’ for diagnosis, have been developed, but they still require the specimen sample to be transported to the laboratory and takes a considerable time to get the result back to the doctor. This means that doctors have to make clinical decisions before results are available.”

The new test called “loop mediated isothermal amplification” utilises a molecular method to detect genes that are common to all strains on the meningococcus, he said.

The team behind this breakthrough was recognised in June when they won an Elevations Diagnostics idea of the year award, organised by HSC innovators, a panel of experts from organisations.