The long term specific aim of this application is to develop staining reagents general for bacteria which can be used in flow cytometry to rapidly determine bacterial counts & for antibiotic sensitivity testing. The specific application for this project is bacterial counting and detection in urine sample. The short term specific aim for this application is to test the feasibility of using a proprietary pan-bacterial stain in conjunction with size discrimination by light scatter in a flow cytometer to quantitatively determine the bacterial content in patient urine sample within 1 hour; The accuracy of this technology will be compared to the current 24-48 hour culture methods. (CFU).
A reagent system for automated, rapid bacterial detection in urine microbial analysis has the potential benefit of early diagnosis leading to early and accurate therapeutics. Automation of clinical microbiology and antibiotic sensitivity is a goal of a number of companies. Reagent systems which will distinguish bacteria from other urine sediment elements have high potential as products. 60,000,000 annual urine microbiology cultures are performed in North America.
