Rapid Bacteria Detection from Patients' Blood Bypassing Classical Bacterial Culturing

Sepsis is a life-threatening condition mostly caused by a bacterial infection resulting in inflammatory reaction and organ dysfunction if not treated effectively. Rapid identification of the causing bacterial pathogen already in the early stage of bacteremia is therefore vital. Current technologies still rely on time-consuming procedures including bacterial culturing up to 72 h. Our approach is based on ultra-rapid and highly sensitive nanomechanical sensor arrays. In measurements we observe two clearly distinguishable distributions consisting of samples with bacteria and without bacteria respectively. Compressive surface stress indicates the presence of bacteria. For this proof-of-concept, we extracted total RNA from EDTA whole blood samples from patients with blood-culture-confirmed bacteremia, which is the reference standard in diagnostics. We determined the presence or absence of bacterial RNA in the sample through 16S-rRNA hybridization and species-specific probes using nanomechanical sensor arrays. Via both probes, we identified two clinically highly-relevant bacterial species i.e., Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus down to an equivalent of 20 CFU per milliliter EDTA whole blood. The dynamic range of three orders of magnitude covers most clinical cases. We correctly identified all patient samples regarding the presence or absence of bacteria. We envision our technology as an important contribution to early and sensitive sepsis diagnosis directly from blood without requirement for cultivation. This would be a game changer in diagnostics, as no commercial PCR or POCT device currently exists who can do this.

Automated summary

This study demonstrates the use of a rapid and sensitive nanomechanical sensor array for early detection of bacterial sepsis. By extracting total RNA from patient blood samples and utilizing 16S-rRNA hybridization and species-specific probes on the sensor array, the presence of clinically relevant bacterial species such as Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus was successfully identified. This technology shows potential for revolutionizing sepsis diagnostics.