What is the problem/issue being addressed?
According to the WHO, antibiotic resistance already causes an estimated 700,000 deaths annually and, without effective action, is predicted to cause 10 million deaths annually by 2050. Additionally, respiratory tract infections (RTIs) are among the top reasons for visiting a general practitioner, and one of the major causes associated with the unnecessary prescription of antibiotics.
Oral infections – periodontitis and caries – are the most prevalent chronic diseases with more than 5 billion cases worldwide, deteriorating people’s quality of life and heavily burdening the healthcare systems.
Detection of the correct etiological agents (bacteria, viruses) associated with the aforementioned infections is crucial for the patient’s treatment. Unfortunately, microbial diagnosis still requires centralised diagnostic laboratories and several days to complete. This delay may lead healthcare professionals to take empirical, rather than evidence-based, treatment decisions.
The project involved developing an innovative, accurate, reliable and cost effective in vitro diagnostic tool that would offer earlier disease diagnosis at the point of care, patient stratification and/or prognosis, leading to improved clinical decisions and health outcomes.
Why is it important for society:
By achieving rapid, molecular-based diagnosis of RTIs, antibiotic resistances, and oral infections, the health and social benefits of the DIAGORAS platform are potentially enormous.
In overview, the platform will:
• Increase the accuracy of the rapid diagnosis of infectious (viral and/or bacterial) diseases
• Reduce expenditure on unnecessary and non-targeted antibiotic prescribing practices
• Shorten prolonged stays in hospitals caused by infectious disease complications
• Reduce the risk of nosocomial and epidemic infections by providing an effective screening tool
• Help prevent the unchecked spread of antimicrobial resistance
• Reduce the burden and costs associated with oral diseases and severe complications caused by lack of correct treatment and patient monitoring
• Decrease the overall global burden of infectious diseases, patient morbidity and mortality.
What are the overall objectives:
• Better patient management, in case of RTIs, through rapid and accurate differentiation between bacterial and viral infections with similar clinical symptoms
• Prevention of antibiotic overuse based on antimicrobial resistance screening for targeted therapy
• Early diagnosis and determination of the disease level
• Personalised monitoring for status control during the entire period of the oral treatment.
Conclusions of the Action:
• A multi-target (syndromic instead of single-pathogen detection) approach is the suitable approach for RTIs and oral infections
• For oral infections the time-course monitoring of patients’ bacterial load and biomarker concentration has higher value rather than a single-timepoint measurement
• All questioned end-users require the result to be provided in less than 1 h, and that the diagnostic report provides guidance for treatment strategies.
