Survivors, Patient Advocates and Clinicians Come to San Diego to Discuss Antimicrobial Stewardship Empowered by Rapid Diagnostics™ 

Durham, NC – July 24, 2017 – bioMérieux, a world leader in the field of in vitro diagnostics, is pleased to announce its 2017 Press Conference at the American Association of Clinical Chemistry: “Antimicrobial Stewardship Empowered by Rapid Diagnostics,” to be held August 2, at 9:00 am (PST) at the San Diego Convention Center.

The World Health Organization has called antibiotic resistance one of the most significant public health threats facing humanity in the 21^st Century.  How can medical tests help stem the growing tide of resistance found in infectious bacteria, virus and fungi? This is what patients, advocates and healthcare providers will discuss during the public event.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), millions of Americans with viral infections receive antibiotics every year despite the fact that antibiotics cannot kill viral pathogens. Millions more receive the wrong antibiotic. This misuse of these precious, life-saving drugs is why they are losing their potency.

The more misuse, the more resistance occurs. While developing new antibiotics is vital, the best way to reduce the misuse of antibiotics and other antimicrobial drugs is to precisely identify infections quickly with rapid diagnostics so that patients are not given inappropriate therapy.

Rusty Wagstaff, a college all-star baseball pitcher, nearly died of sepsis and suffered significant amputations to both his feet and hands as a result.  Dr. Carl Flatley’ s 22-year-old daughter, Erin, developed sepsis immediately following a simple outpatient procedure and died just days later, despite many indications of severe infection.  Following this tragedy, Dr. Flatley went on to found the Sepsis Alliance and dedicate his life to making everyone aware of this infectious disease. Both of these men will join clinical experts to discuss the role of rapid diagnostics can have positively impacting individual lives and to preserve the efficacy of antibiotic drugs for future generations.

Unfortunately, certain antibiotic resistant Superbugs are impervious to all our antibiotics and cannot be treated. Nor is there a cure for sepsis. But for both, early detection by rapid medical diagnostic tools gives patients the best possibility of proper intervention and survival.

“The need has never been greater for rapid medical tests to help stop the spread of superbugs that all too often lead to sepsis,” said Dr. Flatley. “Sepsis and antibiotic resistance are closely linked and we’re here in San Diego to support the efforts of bioMérieux, which has made great strides in helping doctors identify cases of sepsis and resistant infections as soon as possible.”

In addition to Dr. Flatley and Rusty Wagstaff, the following medical professionals will speak on the vital important of rapid diagnostics in our global battle against Superbugs:

George Sakoulas, MD, an Infectious Disease Clinician at Sharp Memorial Hospital; Associate Professor of Pediatrics, UC San Diego School of Medicine, Division of Host-Microbe Systems and Therapeutics, CA.

• Dr. Sakoulas will discuss the recent FDA-cleared PCT-Guided Antibiotic Therapy and Rapid Diagnostics. PCT-Guided Antibiotic Therapy is the application of procalcitonin levels to aid in initiation and monitoring of treatment response in bacterial infections and the support of antibiotic stewardship.

Mike Broyles, PharmD, Pharmacy Director, Five Rivers Medical Center, Pocahontas AR.

• Dr. Broyles will discuss the necessity of collaboration between the lab, pharmacy, physicians and nursing to improve diagnostic precision when dealing with infection.

Christine C. Ginocchio, PhD, MT (ASCP) VP, Global Microbiology Affairs, bioMérieux; VP, Scientific and Medical Affairs, BioFire, LLC.

• Dr. Ginocchio will discuss bioMérieux’s recent FDA clearances for products that speed the time to infectious disease diagnosis.

Where & When

August 2, 2017
9:00 am PST
AACC
San Diego Convention Center
Room 25C (on the Upper Level)

Media Contacts:

bioMérieux

Tim Baker
Tel: +1 216-407-5354
timothy.baker@bioMérieux.com

Hilt Strategic Communications

Bethany Hilt
Tel: +1 330-338-6633
bethany.hilt@gmail.com

Download the full media statement here: