Can portable genome sequencing provide a rapid, comprehensive, point-of-care diagnostic test for Far North Queensland hospitals and healthcare centres? (Old ID 26762)

Chief Investigator

Respiratory disease, fevers, and sepsis are common in FNQ and treatment often requires admission to hospital. These infections have many different causes, and diagnosing them requires multiple tests that take weeks to perform. Consequently, patients are treated with broad-spectrum antibiotics before a pathogen is identified, leading to poorer outcomes for the patient and contributing to the spread of antibiotic-resistant infections. We will trial new genome sequencing technology as a point-of-care diagnostic test for fever, sepsis, and pneumonia at Cairns Hospital, and test the hypothesis that this approach will increase the proportion of infections that are diagnosed and reduce the time-to-diagnosis.

17 Feb 2020 - 17 Feb 2022

N/A