Products

PNA FISH™

Bloodstream infections cause significant morbidity and mortality and are among the most common healthcare-associated infections. Every year, 350,000 patients acquire bloodstream infections while in the hospital in the US resulting in more than 90,000 deaths (25%) and significant costs to the healthcare system. At the first sign of infection, such as a positive blood culture with Gram-positive cocci in clusters (GPCC), physicians often treat empirically with broad-spectrum antibiotics to cover for the risk of resistant pathogens, especially methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA). Rapid results from the microbiology lab are therefore critical to support appropriate therapy.^1,2

PNA FISH™ allows microbiology labs to report identification results to physicians within a few hours of a blood culture turning positive. Effective implementing of PNA FISH via coordinated efforts between the microbiology lab, pharmacy and medical staff, can result in:

EVIGENE™

Gram-positive cocci (GPC) are well-recognized around the world as leading causes of both hospital-acquired (HA) and community-acquired (CA) infections. However, the ever increasing empirical use of broad-spectrum antibiotics such as vancomycin is believed to place greater selective pressure on bacteria resulting in rising incidences of highly resistant, virulent and toxic strains that further exhaust healthcare resources.⁶

As a result, healthcare providers are looking for rapid methods for detecting antibiotic resistance, virulence and toxicity markers in order to develop better infection control strategies and ensure appropriate care for their patients.

EVIGENE™ is a qualitative hybridization assay using signal amplification that provides rapid (3 hours) detection of specific gene markers in S. aureus and enterococci isolates.