October 08, 2013 | Department News
Researchers led by Jerry Cangelosi (DEOHS, Epi, GH) were awarded a commercialization grant for a health care diagnostic tool. They are developing a product that can detect whether the bacteria present is capable of turning into a serious infection -- key to knowing how to treat hospital-acquired infections. These are infections that patients acquire during the course of receiving treatment for other conditions. The current test used takes one to four days to yield results. The new one will take a mere four to six hours. Approximately 1 out of every 20 hospitalized patients will contract an HAI, which can sometimes be fatal. The infections contribute to 99,000 deaths annually.