As a successful researcher and developer in microchannel fluidics and applications to clinical Dx, forensics, and environmental testing, Dr. Swiger was intrigued and drawn to Acenxion’s work. But, it was as a father that Roy knew he had to be part of the Acenxion team. Many years earlier, one of Roy’s children developed an infection that became septic as a toddler. During the years that followed, his child would often present symptoms associated with fevers that required hospitalization to rule out or possibly treat sepsis. These were stressful and turbulent episodes. The testing for sepsis under these circumstances was often inconclusive or not relevant as days would pass and either there was obvious improvement or decline. Holding a sick child knowing that a weeklong “wait and see” mode was to ensue was maddening to Roy and his wife — and they endured this for years until the infection was successfully treated.
Thankfully those years are long past. Nevertheless, as a result of personal experience, Dr. Swiger is motivated to see improvements in this area of medical testing. Even more so as for the last 20 years, sepsis has been the leading cause of death in modern hospitals globally. One out of every three deaths in US hospitals is caused by sepsis. Other Acenxion team members have been touched by this condition and most of the team knows of at least one person who has died from a septic infection while waiting for AST results. Indeed, everyone at Acenxion shares a commitment and dedication to radically improving AST and reducing the risk that faces all of us.
"There are 44,000 deaths from sepsis every year in the UK and deaths due to antibiotic resistance are an increasing proportion. Globally there are well over 6 million deaths due to sepsis. Every 4 seconds someone dies of sepsis."
- Dr. Rob Daniels, CEO Sepsis Trust
One of those people was a school teacher and mother of three children. She was in her mid-thirties and had a routine surgery. Two days later she returned to the hospital feeling ill with a fever. She was admitted to the hospital, placed on broad-spectrum antibiotics, and tested for a possible infection. A day later, as her condition worsened, she was moved to the ICU. The broad-spectrum antibiotics were not working. Two days after that, an infection had been confirmed but her doctors were still waiting for AST results to tell them what targeted treatment would help her. On that same day with her husband was sitting by her side, she passed away in the prime of her life. If only the test had been faster.
“The most recent report on sepsis by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality revealed that sepsis-related hospital stays increased by 153% between 1993 and 2009, with an average annual increase of 6%. Sepsis is also the single-most expensive reason for hospitalization, with an annual cost estimated in excess of $20 billion. In-hospital mortality rates from sepsis are a staggering 16%, over 8 times higher than other diagnoses, with as many as 600 deaths occurring per day in the United States alone.”
- Edmiston, et. al.
Even worse, the more time bacteria spend exposed to antibiotics that are not effective, the stronger and more resistant the bacteria will become. Hence, the more time a sick patient is treated with the wrong antibiotics, the greater the chance of continued suffering and death all while the antibiotics we do have become less and less useful. So, it isn’t just the patient we can help. Rapid AST using gold-standard phenotypic methods will minimize AMR caused by exposure to ineffective and broad-spectrum antibiotics. That means the service life of our current antibiotics can be extended and countless more people can benefit from antibiotics we already have available.
We believe that gold-standard phenotypic methods merged with our scientific discoveries and engineering innovations will deliver test results in a few short hours instead of days. At a minimum, our technology will eliminate the waiting and uncertainty people like Dr. Swiger and his family experienced for years. Enabling fast targeted treatments, our technology will fight the spread of antimicrobial resistance protecting antibiotics. And, in the most important of situations, it will help save lives like the mother of three.
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