{"id":2632,"date":"2017-06-15T17:35:18","date_gmt":"2017-06-15T07:35:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/?post_type=wimr_news&p=2632"},"modified":"2024-09-30T18:26:33","modified_gmt":"2024-09-30T08:26:33","slug":"new-flu-test-one-drop-of-blood-could-save-your-life","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/news\/new-flu-test-one-drop-of-blood-could-save-your-life\/","title":{"rendered":"New flu test: One drop of blood could save your life"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr Benjamin Tang and his team have developed a world first test to identify which influenza patients will need urgent, life-saving, medical treatment.<\/p>\n

\n

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Associate Professor Benjamin Tang, Dr Grant Parnell,\u00a0Dr Maryam Shojaei and Professor David Booth have\u00a0\u00a0developed a world first test to identify which influenza patients will need urgent, life-saving, medical treatment.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n

The High-risk Influenza Screen Test (HIST) measures \u2018an early warning signal\u2019 released by the patient\u2019s body into their blood to \u2018kick start\u2019 their immune system\u2019s fight against the infection.<\/p>\n

The test needs only a single drop of blood and a few hours to predict, with 91 percent accuracy, which influenza patients will develop potentially deadly secondary infections, such as pneumonia.<\/p>\n

Previously doctors could only test for influenza infection but didn\u2019t know which patients would be at risk of rapid deterioration.<\/p>\n

\u201cInfluenza can sometimes kill otherwise healthy people in the prime of their lives,\u201d says Dr Tang.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy using the High-risk Influenza Screen Test we\u2019re eavesdropping on the immune system to pick up when the body first mounts a defence against a serious, life-threatening, infection.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe early warning means we have a greater chance to treat the patient\u2019s infection before it overwhelms them and potentially kills them,\u201d Dr Tang said.<\/p>\n

The research, published today by Dr Tang and colleagues in the European Respiratory Journal, deciphered the genetic codes that immune cells release to warn the body of a serious infection, such as pneumonia, caused by the influenza virus.<\/p>\n

HIST will be particularly useful during pandemics when there is a delay in developing vaccines for strains of the influenza virus.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can now test people during a pandemic, or outbreak of a new flu virus, to identify those who might be at greater risk of developing serious complications.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe test works with any flu infection as it looks at how the body reacts rather than the strain or type of virus.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Dr Tang said HIST could also be used to track the effectiveness of new drugs in clinical trials by accurately plotting the patient\u2019s immune response.<\/p>\n

The patented High-risk Influenza Screen Test runs on equipment already available in most pathology laboratories.<\/p>\n

The full research paper is available in the\u00a0European Respiratory Journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr Benjamin Tang and his team have developed a world first test to identify which influenza patients will need urgent, life-saving, medical treatment. The High-risk Influenza Screen Test (HIST) measures \u2018an early warning signal\u2019 released by the patient\u2019s body into their blood to \u2018kick start\u2019 their immune system\u2019s fight against the infection. The test needs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":2633,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"categories":[19],"class_list":["post-2632","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cat-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/2632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}