TEST: Dr Marieke Emonts is leading the research into a high-speed test for meningitis
SCIENTISTS are taking part in a £14m study to develop a high-speed test to diagnose life-threatening bacterial infections in children.
Doctors at the Great North Children’s Hospital in Newcastle believe they can develop a test which can tell within two hours instead of the current two days whether a fever is a result of a common childhood virus or a potentially deadly infection such as meningitis, sepsis or pneumonia.
Dr Marieke Emonts-le Clercq, from Newcastle University, said: “A rapid test based on the two genes we believe we have identified could literally transform clinical practice and stop meningitis and sepsis in its tracks.”
The Newcastle study has been awarded EU funding to develop the new treatment.
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