Health & Medicine
FDA Approves New Spectrometer that Spots 193 Different Microorganisms
Benita Matilda
First Posted: Aug 24, 2013 03:28 AM EDT
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a novel mass spectrometer that can quickly spot more than 150 types of disease causing yeast and bacteria.
The new VITEK MS system is designed to identify 193 different microorganisms and can also perform 192 different tests in a single automated series. Each test takes not more than a minute to complete, according to the FDA press release.
"The ability for laboratories to use one device to identify almost 200 different microorganisms is a significant advance in the timely identification of pathogenic microorganisms," said Alberto Gutierrez, Ph.D., director of the Office of In Vitro Diagnostics and Radiological Health at FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health. "Rapid identification of harmful microorganisms can improve the care of critically ill patients."
The device can identity yeasts from groups of Malassezia, Cyptococcus and Candida. It can also identify bacteria from the Enterobacteriaceae, Staphylococcaceae Bacteroidaceaefamilies, Streptococcaceae and Pseudomonadaceae; known to cause skin infections, infections in the bloodstream, meningitis and pneumonia.
The test system works on the technology called matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization -time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS), in which yeast and bacteria specimens are broken with the help of laser into fine particles. The size of the particles depends on the type of yeast and bacteria species. On analyzing the pattern, the device detects the microbes by comparing with the193 known yeasts and bacteria in the test system's database .
This testing can be done with just a small portion of the yeast and bacterial growth and does not require a huge quantity. The moment the growth is detected, testing can be done within 18-24 hours compared to the traditional methods that take days to provide results.
The VITEK MS is manufactured by bioMerieux, Inc. in Durham, N.C.
A recent study tested 7,068 microorganisms with the device, and VITEK MS correctly recognized the scientific group or family 93.6 percent of the time. It provided a ''no identification'' result for 3.2 percent of the microorganisms in the study.
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First Posted: Aug 24, 2013 03:28 AM EDT
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a novel mass spectrometer that can quickly spot more than 150 types of disease causing yeast and bacteria.
The new VITEK MS system is designed to identify 193 different microorganisms and can also perform 192 different tests in a single automated series. Each test takes not more than a minute to complete, according to the FDA press release.
"The ability for laboratories to use one device to identify almost 200 different microorganisms is a significant advance in the timely identification of pathogenic microorganisms," said Alberto Gutierrez, Ph.D., director of the Office of In Vitro Diagnostics and Radiological Health at FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health. "Rapid identification of harmful microorganisms can improve the care of critically ill patients."
The device can identity yeasts from groups of Malassezia, Cyptococcus and Candida. It can also identify bacteria from the Enterobacteriaceae, Staphylococcaceae Bacteroidaceaefamilies, Streptococcaceae and Pseudomonadaceae; known to cause skin infections, infections in the bloodstream, meningitis and pneumonia.
The test system works on the technology called matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization -time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS), in which yeast and bacteria specimens are broken with the help of laser into fine particles. The size of the particles depends on the type of yeast and bacteria species. On analyzing the pattern, the device detects the microbes by comparing with the193 known yeasts and bacteria in the test system's database .
This testing can be done with just a small portion of the yeast and bacterial growth and does not require a huge quantity. The moment the growth is detected, testing can be done within 18-24 hours compared to the traditional methods that take days to provide results.
The VITEK MS is manufactured by bioMerieux, Inc. in Durham, N.C.
A recent study tested 7,068 microorganisms with the device, and VITEK MS correctly recognized the scientific group or family 93.6 percent of the time. It provided a ''no identification'' result for 3.2 percent of the microorganisms in the study.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone