Uni Melb, Pete Doherty Institute researchers blood test for deadly viruses

A potentially lifesaving blood test could identify up to five deadly infections in children in under an hour, thanks to the work of Melbourne researchers.

A cheap and simple single blood test that can detect multiple infectious and inflammatory diseases in sick children is set to transform healthcare.

The diagnostic blood test is being developed by an international team following studies in more than 1200 children.

University of Melbourne Professor Lachlan Coin from the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity has played a key role in the research.

A pioneer in the area of pathogen detection, Prof Coin said the blood test was unique because it could distinguish between five potentially deadly infection categories and may even be able to figure out the cause.

“It could potentially become a standard diagnostic tool when a child presents with a high fever in a hospital,” he said.

“The test would help determine if a child needed antibiotics and help guide the treatment. This would be an extra tool in the arsenal.”

Prof Lachlan Coin from the Doherty Institute. Image: Supplied

Prof Coin said it was developed in response to pediatricians globally, including Australia, calling for more tools to help quickly diagnose whether a fever in a child was bacterial, viral or something else to help inform initial treatment.

“If you have a better idea of what’s causing the problem then you can target the treatment,” Prof Coin said.

The researchers said in the study, published in the journal Med, infectious and inflammatory diseases are the most common causes of children seeking medical care in both hospital and community settings.

Deciding on the best treatment initially, they said, was a considerable challenge with existing tests.

A future diagnostic test based on this approach, the researchers believe, could help provide the right treatment, to the right patient, at the right time, while optimising antibiotic use and reducing lengthy time to diagnosis.

Prof Coin said the novel blood test could be commercially developed as a diagnostic device.

It could, in around an hour, identify a virus such as deadly influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), group A streptococcus or Neisseria meningitides, the bacteria which causes meningococcal disease, and also tuberculosis in children.

It can also pinpoint the inflammatory disease Kawasaki Syndrome which causes high fever and a rash in very young children.

Infectious and inflammatory diseases are the most common causes of children seeking medical care in hospitals. Image: Supplied

Professor Coin said the blood test could also alert doctors to malaria, potentially making it a lifesaver in many in sub-Saharan African countries where children have a high rate of death from the disease spread by mosquito.

“This blood test is for children who are really unwell, presenting in emergency departments,” Professor Coin said.

He said that appropriate treatment and management of children presenting with fever depended on accurate and timely diagnosis.

“But current diagnostic tests lack sensitivity and specificity and are frequently too slow to inform initial treatment,” Professor Coin said.

“This new diagnostic test analyses a patient’s “gene expression” or signature.”

He said there was still a fair way to go before it became readily available.

“The possibility is there, but there is still a lot of work to do to confirm this improves clinical outcome. We have commercial partners ready to help develop the device and then we also need to do clinical trials, which are being discussed internationally.”