Distinguishing between a bacterial and non-bacterial infection at the point of care

摘要

A method includes obtaining a sample from a patient; applying, to the sample, a reagent to cause bacterial cells to release adenosine triphosphate (ATP) when the sample includes the bacterial cells; applying another reagent that reacts with the ATP to form a colorimetric agent; detecting whether the sample changes in appearance as observed by an unaided eye of a practitioner when a concentration of the agent is greater than a threshold; identifying a time period from when the other reagent is applied to when the change in appearance is detected; and determines a severity, of a bacterial infection, based on the time period. The severity corresponds to a severity level when the time period is less than a duration of a point of care visit by a first amount, or a higher severity level when the time period is less than the duration by more than the first amount.

主权项

1. A method for determining whether a sample, obtained from a patient, includes a bacterial infection, the method comprising:
obtaining, from the patient, the sample that includes a plurality of cells of the patient; applying, to the sample, one or more first reagents to cause adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to be released from bacterial cells, when the plurality of cells include the bacterial cells; applying, to the sample, a second reagent, in liquid form, to react with the ATP that is released from the bacterial cells, when the plurality of cells include the bacterial cells, the reaction with the ATP forming a colorimetric agent that can be detected by an unaided eye of a medical practitioner; determining whether the colorimetric agent is detected by the unaided eye of the medical practitioner; identifying a time period from when the second reagent is applied to when the colorimetric agent is detected by the unaided eye of the medical practitioner; and determining that the patient:
has the bacterial infection when the time period, from when the second reagent is applied to when the colorimetric agent is detected by the unaided eye of the medical practitioner, is less than a threshold, the threshold corresponding to a duration of a point of care office visit between the patient and the medical practitioner, ordoes not have the bacterial infection when the time period, from when the second reagent is applied to when the colorimetric agent is detected by the unaided eye of the medical practitioner, is not less than the threshold.