QuikRead go CRP used in a study aiming to reduce unnecessary antibiotics in primary care settings

Stay tuned! We would like to share exciting updates of ongoing research using QuikRead go in various studies in different parts of the world.

Kicking off 2020, we are happy to introduce to you Prof. Mark Ebell from the University of Georgia (Athens, Georgia, US) and his current comprehensive clinical study with a goal to develop and validate tools that guide antibiotic prescription for patients presenting acute cough. Such tools would serve both doctors and patients by helping them be confident that the patient will do well without antibiotics. The driving purpose of this research is to reduce inappropriate antibiotic prescriptions and inhibit antimicrobial resistance.

The goal of the study is to collect data from a total of 1400 patients seeking medical care in several primary care sites across the US. One goal is to develop a decision algorithm that will incorporate signs and symptoms of the patient, CRP result, and up-to-date surveillance data from the Center of Disease Control (CDC) for common infections like influenza. Additionally, the patients will report their symptoms on a weekly basis allowing detailed follow-up of the disease course. Nasal swabs from the patients will also be analyzed for a panel of nearly 40 bacterial and viral pathogens. The decision algorithm will be created with the first two-thirds of the patients and the last third is used for validation.

QuikRead go CRP has the privilege of being included in this study in terms of providing the point of care CRP results for the algorithm. The QuikRead go CRP test is used as an investigational product, and the results are not shared with the physicians. In Prof. Ebell’s opinion, the main advantages of QuikRead go CRP in primary care are that the results are available already in 2 minutes and the possibility of using fingerstick samples as is done in Europe.

At this point, over 200 patients have been recruited into the study. The majority of the CRP results have been below the presumed limit for safely refraining from antibiotics.

We are excited to be part of this study and are looking forward to the results of this 4-year project and hopefully will see some tangible data in an intermediate report.

For more information on the study, please contact Prof. Ebell. ebell@uga.edu