Country: England
What infection type does your test focus on? Wounds
What does your test detect? Pathogen(s)
About the Team:
Woundchek Laboratories is focussed on the development of point of care diagnostics for chronic wound care. Approximately 20% of chronic wounds are clinically assessed as infected and even more at the risk of infection. 25% of chronic wound patients are receiving antibiotic treatment at any given time. Infection diagnosis for chronic wounds is predominantly based on clinical signs alone, so can be unreliable and lead to over-diagnosis or prophylactic use of topical antimicrobials or antibiotics, which in turn can contribute to the development of antimicrobial resistance. Our test for bacterial protease activity is being developed to help guide more prudent and timely use of topical antimicrobials on chronic wounds, which may lead to reduced need for antibiotics.
Our goal is to validate the utility of our test in improving antimicrobial stewardship and helping reduce the need for antibiotics. Chronic wound patients are predominantly elderly and are often being treated for other conditions requiring antibiotics, so this rapid, easy to use, point of care test could be a key part of a broader solution to prevent the rise of resistance to antibiotics. Further, dermatologists have identified a potential utility for the technology to help overcome the clinical challenges in differentiating between inflammation and infection in certain skin disorders, which are known to result in widespread inappropriate use of antibiotics. Development of our test has been completed and clinical trials for CE mark are nearing completion, so soon we’ll be able to study its impact on clinical practice and patient outcomes.
WOUNDCHEK(TM) Bacterial Status is a rapid point of care test that detects bacterial protease in wound fluid prior to clinically observed infection. The test can be used to aid the assessment of whether a wound is non-healing due to bacterial pathogenesis.
Twitter: @woundchek
