A world first: a special test that distinguishes between bacterial and viral infections in whole blood in just 15 minutes

Antibiotic overuse or underuse is one of the main challenges in management of infectious diseases. Hillel Yaffe Medical Center is the first in the world to use a test to distinguish between bacterial and viral infections in whole blood, and it is done in just 15 minutes. The device, MeMed Key, is a unique machine the hospital has had for about two years. It runs the MeMed BV test, a lab test that distinguishes between bacterial and viral infections based on the patient's immune response. This helps the medical staff make their clinical diagnosis and provide appropriate medication therapy. Up until now, the test was performed on serum, a process that involved waiting for the blood to coagulate and then its separation in a centrifuge. The test will now be performed on whole blood, which shortens the time to results and enables the medical staff to provide a rapid diagnosis and appropriate treatment in real time.

Hillel Yaffe’s Hematology Laboratory Director, Ma'anit Shapira, said, “The test is performed for toddlers and children in the Pediatric Emergency Medicine Department and in the Department of Pediatrics in the hospital. It takes just 15 minutes and supports clinical decision making in real time. To date, the test involved several stages, including coagulation and centrifugation (spinning) of the blood in order to separate the cells. The new test makes the work in the lab more efficient. The test is quicker, and we receive the results in a shorter time, which helps significantly reduce the number of unnecessary prescriptions issued for antibiotics.

Dr. Ma'anit Shapira demonstrates the use of the new device