InosIn

Influenza infections or respiratory tract infections of varying severity are the most common reasons for GP consultations and also pose a major threat to the patients in the clinic. In today's routine clinical practice, identification of an infectious pathogen takes up to 5 days, which means that the pathogen-specific therapy can only be initiated late. This leads to higher costs for the health care system due to prolonged hospital stays and to delays in the recovery of the patient, and in the worst case - e.g., due to the onset of sepsis - even to death. In addition, resistant pathogens can develop as a result of the improper administration of antibiotics, causing increasing problems in everyday hospital life. The pathogens that settle in the lungs produce specific metabolites - Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) - which leave the body via exhalation, among other routes. Ion Mobility Spectrometry coupled with Gas Chromatographic pre-separation (GC-IMS) is a rapid, high detection, safe and robust method for analyzing gaseous samples at trace levels.

This allows to detect the pathogen-characteristic metabolite patterns as a "fingerprint" of VOCs over cultures after only a few hours. Within the framework of the InosIn project, the detection of these patterns is now to be transferred to the detection directly in the exhaled air of patients using the example of some clinically relevant pathogens. With such a fast, highly sensitive and non-invasive method, the pathogenic agent can already be identified in the early stages of an infection, which then enables an early pathogen-appropriate therapy. Thus, for the benefit of the patient, the recovery process will be accelerated, possible complications avoided and the length of stay in hospital shortened, which in turn will reduce costs for the healthcare system and additionally avoid the development of resistance.