Invasive neonatal infections constitute a major global public health challenge claiming 6 deaths per 1000 births and with neonates acquiring pathogens either in utero or during the delivery period being the critical time for. Neonatal bacterial infections primarily acquired at the time of delivery through maternal-fetal transmission, remain a leading preventable cause of mortality and morbidity. The bacteria most involved in early-onset neonatal sepsis of term and preterm infants are Group B streptococcus (GBS) and Escherichia coli, with around 70% of infections followed by other bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus colonizing the maternal genitourinary tract and contaminating the amniotic fluid.
Despite the progresses made in the reduction of morbidity and mortality from neonatal sepsis, diagnostics still relies primarily on conventional microbiology techniques with the gold standard for establishing a diagnostic of neonatal sepsis still being through culture which is time-consuming and can be inaccurate. In the particular case of MFI risk screening, the duration of the test is an essential parameter that strongly impacts its clinical utility. In fact, the time between performing the vaginal sample and determining resistance to antibiotics by culture techniques, 2 to 3 days in clinical practice, is a major obstacle to defining the appropriate prescription by the clinician. Diagnostics with a faster turnaround time would likely improve surveillance in all settings but also enable timely management of infections
The aim of this project was to design an innovative microfluidics-based diagnostic tool to identify a subset of key bacteria and associated resistance genes within a rapid turnaround time, and at the point-of-need. The novelty of the project relies on the use of an old method of molecular colony (also known as polony) amplification coupled with smart polymer and multiplex-qPCR to detect bacteria and determine antimicrobial susceptibility; thus, the success of the project depends on the experimental design.
