Objetivo
Bacterial meningitis is one of the most serious infections for infants and children, which is associated with acute complications and chronic morbidity. Untreated bacterial meningitis is highly fatal, leaving serious neurological sequelae in survivors and crippling children for their life. Because the prognosis worsens with delayed treatment, early detection aids clinician in providing a timely intervention, to institute, appropriate antibiotic therapy. However, detection of meningitis can be challenging due to the minimum symptomology of the disease and particularly in newborns and young infants, the most vulnerable since their immunological system is yet being developed, for their inability to communicate. Paediatricians have the daily challenge of diagnosing 2.5M infants younger of one year in Europe each year who may have only fever that may be caused by an infection and, although the incidence is relatively low, it can be meningitis. The only method to detect the presence or absence of the disease is a lumbar puncture, an invasive, cumbersome and time-consuming and cost-ineffective procedure that, in industrialised countries, is negative in 95% of cases.
The imperious need for quick, easy and cost-effective detection makes Neosonic (NS) a unique solution for non-invasively screen for bacterial meningitis in infants. The innovative and sophisticated precision-engineering system using high-frequency ultrasound is placed in the fontanel of the infant, the area of the skull where bones remain unwelded for babies. With the push of a button NS measures the number of White Blood Cells in the CerebroSpinal Fluid. Therefore, only if CSF WBC count is increased should an LP be performed and antibiotic treatment for meningitis be administered. Furthermore, NS allows to follow up patient treatment response by means of monitoring CSF WBC concentration, which decays with a positive response. Currently, repeated LPs for follow-up are rarely performed due to its associated risk
Ámbito científico
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicinerheumatology
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesmicrobiologybacteriology
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencesinfectious diseasesRNA virusesHIV
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicinepharmacology and pharmacypharmaceutical drugsantibiotics
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesacousticsultrasound
Programa(s)
Convocatoria de propuestas
Consulte otros proyectos de esta convocatoriaConvocatoria de subcontratación
H2020-SMEInst-2018-2020-1
Régimen de financiación
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1Coordinador
28014 Madrid
España
Organización definida por ella misma como pequeña y mediana empresa (pyme) en el momento de la firma del acuerdo de subvención.