BioMerieux offers a range of solutions to fight sepsis, the most common underlying cause of death in non-coronary intensive care units.
This was illustrated by the company's sponsoring of the Sepsis 2008 international symposium held in Spain in November 2008.
Sepsis is a complex clinical syndrome that is defined as a systemic inflammatory response (SIRS) with presumed or confirmed bacterial infection.
The mortality rate in non-coronary intensive care units can be as high as 32 per cent in cases of severe sepsis or 54 per cent in cases of septic shock.
Early recognition and timely initiation of appropriate therapy is key to improving the outcome of patients with sepsis.
By rapidly and accurately detecting the presence of microbial infection in SIRS patients, in vitro diagnostic tests can provide clinically relevant information and support early diagnosis of sepsis.
BioMerieux has developed a range of solutions to support clinical diagnosis, prognosis and antibiotic stewardship for the management of sepsis.
The company's products span microbiology, immunoassay and molecular biology technologies.
The range includes BacT/Alert for blood cultures, Vidas Brahms PCT for early detection and monitoring of severe bacterial infections, Vitek 2 for automated identification and antibiotic susceptibility testing, and Etest, a predefined gradient technique used to determine the on-scale minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of antibiotics agents.
BioMerieux also distributes AdvanDx rapid molecular tests - PNA Fish - in the US for species identification of bacteria and yeast from positive blood cultures.
