According
to an Issue Brief from the Pew Charitable Trust, annual treatment costs for
hospitalized MRSA patients can run between $3.2 billion and $4.2 billion in the
United States. It is estimated that patients with MRSA are twice as likely to
die as patients with a staph infection that can be addressed with methicillin.
The brief also reports that MRSA accounts for 11,000 deaths and 80,000 invasive
infections annually in just the United States.
At
a time when MRSA-infected patients are likely to have a hospital stay that is
300 percent longer and 300 percent more expensive than uninfected patients, the
need for efficient and cost-effective MRSA detection measures runs deep. One
highly-used detection method includes lab testing from cultured samples.
However, it requires incubation times of 24 hours or more, and it often
includes a 2-3 day turnaround. There are tests available with faster turnaround
times, but because of the increased efficiency, they are more expensive. In
turn, it adds more to healthcare providers’ cost burdens and, by extension,
patients’ own expenses. Also, sensory devices for identifying MRSA exist, but
they are bulky, take up room, and costly for large-scale applications. And all
of this is without factoring in the substantial hygienic, cleansing, and
existing MRSA detection-related expenses that healthcare providers already
incur, as well.
Enter
Zenosense, an emerging healthcare technology company that is helping pioneer an
MRSA detection device with groundbreaking medical potential. With its
development partner Sgenia Group, the company is engineering a device that will
incorporate an advanced electronic nose technology to detect MRSA. Using
powerful sensory capabilities, this device will “smell” and pick up on Volatile
Organic Compound (VOC) signatures given off by MRSA-infected patients. It will
make use of a powerful, single standard sensor and standard components so that
it stays low-cost.
At
present, there is no cost-effective system that “smells” MRSA VOC signatures
and is easily deployable to healthcare facilities. The device’s single sensor
unit is slated to have the technological potency of tens of thousands of
sensors. Zenosense estimates it would take up to 8-32 competing sensors with
supporting hardware to perform at the same level. With this powerful sensory
capability, the device will consist of a wearable unit which patients and
healthcare staff wear in hospital settings. Zenosense has plans for a fixed,
network-monitored detection device, as well.
This
device will enable healthcare providers to detect MRSA at earlier stages. As a
result, it would have a tremendous impact on their treatment costs. There is
some literature which confirms this possibility. In fact, recent studies on
healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), of which MRSA is a part, suggest that
prevention practices could reduce certain HAIs by 70 percent.
In
the midst of the development efforts, Zenosense has been forging strategic
relationships with key parties that will help bring further progress. These
include hospitals, universities, and players in the private sector who will be
valuable partners in research efforts for the device and eventually bringing
the device to market.
For
more information, visit: www.zenosense.net
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