PhenUtest: Rapid diagnostic kit for antimicrobial susceptibility detection in Urinary tract infections (UTIs)

每年有超过1亿人被诊断患有尿路感染（UTIs）。每2名女性中就有1人在生命中的某个时刻遇到过这种情况，这使其成为世界范围内的一个主要问题。UTI是英国22.7%的社区抗生素处方的主要原因（来源：NHS英格兰）。抗生素的错误处方，特别是在尿路感染中，会导致抗菌素耐药性（AMR）。在欧洲和美国，每年有5万多人死于耐药性感染。到2050年，AMR估计将使全球经济损失100万亿美元（奥尼尔'14）。仅在英国，医院获得性尿路感染的费用就超过4亿英镑/年（来源：计划外招生共识委员会- 2016年更新指南）。目前的尿路感染检测程序涉及将样本送往中央病理实验室，需要大约48-72小时才能获得结果。结果包括对患者应处方的特定抗生素的描述。作为一个病人，你最初接受的是第一线的抗生素，这往往是错误的。正如英国国民保健署在地平线报告（地平线扫描报告0045，2016）中所强调的那样，严重缺乏可靠，快速和廉价的UTI诊断测试。PhenUtest带来了最先进的技术，能够对UTI疑似样本进行30分钟（样本到诊断）的抗菌药物敏感性测试，确保患者在首次GP访问时获得正确的抗生素。这些测试将在初级保健环境中的台式仪器中进行。该仪器将具有高精度、快速、廉价和易于操作的特点。这将减少因错误抗生素处方而住院的风险。我们的技术将提供一种快速、准确和具有成本效益的方法，在首次全科医生就诊时诊断UTI。这不仅可以为NHS等医疗服务部门节省数百万英镑，还可以减少抗生素耐药性的增长。

Every year, over 100 million people are diagnosed with Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs). 1 in 2 women encounters it at some point in their life, making it a major problem worldwide. UTIs are the main reason for 22.7% of the UK's community antibiotic prescriptions (source: NHS England). Mis-prescribing of antibiotics, especially in urinary tract infections, leads to antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Annually, more than 50,000 people die from antimicrobial-resistant infections in Europe and the US. By 2050, AMR is estimated to cost the global economy $100 trillion (O'Neill '14). In the UK alone, hospital-acquired UTIs amount to a cost of over £400M/year (Source: Unplanned Admissions Consensus Committee -- 2016 Updated Guide).The current UTI testing procedure involves the samples being sent to a centralized pathological lab, and it takes some 48-72 hours for the results to come back. The results include a description of the specific antibiotics that the patient should be prescribed. You as a patient, initially receive the first line of antibiotics, which is often wrong. As highlighted by NHS England in the Horizon report (Horizon Scan Report 0045, 2016) there is a serious lack of reliable, fast and cheap UTI diagnostic tests.PhenUtest brings a state-of-art technology, enabling a 30-minute (sample to diagnosis) antimicrobial susceptibility test for UTI-suspected samples which ensures that the patient gets the correct antibiotic at their first GP visit. These tests will be performed in a benchtop instrument in a primary care setting. This instrument will be highly precise, fast, cheap and easy to operate. This will reduce the risk of hospital admissions due to wrong antibiotic prescriptions.Our technology will provide an in-house rapid, accurate and cost-effective way to diagnose UTIs in the first GP visit. This will not only save health services like the NHS millions of pounds but will also reduce the growth of antibiotic resistance.