Zenosense is hammering out the technical details for their MRSA/MSSA (Methicillin-Resistant/Sensitive Staphylococcus aureus, or staph, infection) detection device designed to offset the primary component of contraction rates, Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs), with a comprehensive monitoring/sensor technology that can differentiate S. areus-specific signature VOCs (volatile organic compounds) from background VOCs.
A recent status report update on developmental work done on the device, in conjunction with the company’s partner and European sensor specialists, Sgenia Group, gives positive indications that a technological solution to effective detection/monitoring of MRSA is right around the corner. Great news for hospitals, the overwhelming majority source for MRSA infections, particularly the ones resulting in death of the patient. But also news which is of growing interest to the general public, what with the publication in April of this year by Columbia University Medical Center in New York showing that MRSA is now clearly endemic to households, which have become major source for the USA300 strain, the primary cause of community-associated MRSA infections (CA-MRSA, as opposed to HA-MRSA).
Further heightening the public’s alarm over increasingly resistant superbugs is the recent identification of a vancomycin-resistant (considered the reference standard) MRSA bacterium by the University of Texas Health Science Center in the first ever reported case of bloodstream infection; genomic analysis of which indicates that the bug evolved from a type typically found outside of hospitals and which is widely linked to community-associated MRSA. To make matters worse, a study published in the American Society for Microbiology’s mBio journal in early May of this year indicates that people and their pets readily exchange and share MRSA bacteria from the same population. The study also detailed how all animal infections occurred in the same family (Epidemic MRSA 15), thus pointing the finger at humans as the likely originating source.
Even if we had solutions to the increasingly daunting problem of superbugs like MRSA, we would still need effective detection technology like the device ZENO is working on and thus there is a bright future for this extremely important detection capability. Advancements made in gas sensor technology have been put under thorough review by the company according to their latest tech update and algorithmic VOC discrimination advancements besides have produced compelling results for the company during testing, with some notable success identifying target VOCs. The implementation of robust lab protocols and gold-standard gas chromatography/mass spectrometry analytics gives high confidence in the company’s developmental results/success and it looks like the device’s next big step is likely hospital experiments in clinical MRSA, MSSA, and coagulase-negative Staphylococci strains.
More importantly, the recent developmental work done by ZENO has produced multiple collaboration agreements and partnerships with relevant hospitals and universities, as well as a private full-spectrum sensor lab, which should accelerate future prototyping.
As overwhelming as the MRSA superbug problem seems, an effective detection technology could help immediately address the problem in a rigorous fashion, especially when it comes to buildup in homes and other locations. Take for instance another recent study showing that MRSA can live for a week or more on various surfaces in airplanes, like the seatback pockets everyone shoves their stuff into and it becomes readily apparent how widespread MRSA sensor technology could one day become.
Also in early May of this year, ZENO extended their agreement with sensor tech specialists, the Sgenia Group, to include cancer sensor devices, via which agreement the company would obtain rights to manufacture and sell a resulting device. The concept of applying their developmental work on collection sensors and differentiating algorithms for MRSA, directly to cancer-specific VOC detection, is a potential gold mine for ZENO. If suspicions prove true that a relatively straightforward and simple modification of existing tech could produce a low-cost detection system for certain types of cancer, ZENO will be able to kick their MRSA detection game into high gear off the upside, especially given how such technology would allow for cheaper, more widespread cancer screenings.
More data on Zenosense available at: www.zenosense.net
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