Syndromic testing

Syndromic Testing Benefits

Resolve diagnostic unknowns fast

We understand how challenging it can be to quickly and accurately diagnose infectious diseases. When a patient is ill and time is of the essence, how do you make sure you test for the right pathogen the first time?

That's exactly when syndromic testing really shines. Unlike traditional diagnostic methods, like bacterial culture and microscopy, syndromic testing uses multiplex PCR to test for several pathogens at once – and it only takes around an hour. The quick, comprehensive results of syndromic testing let you provide the best care possible for your patients.

The benefits of syndromic testing infographic

The benefits of syndromic testing go beyond fast results

Syndromic testing can help eliminate the guesswork of diagnosing infectious diseases and help you make faster clinical decisions. This not only benefits your patients, but your institution as a whole. Many clinical publications show that syndromic testing can help diagnostic labs work smarter, support antimicrobial stewardship programs, improve patient outcomes and reduce overall healthcare costs.
Antimicrobial stewardship
Antimicrobial stewardship

Rapid, actionable results support ASPs

  • 13% reduction in antibiotic therapy duration¹
  • 30% reduction in antibiotic prescriptions²
  • 1.0 fewer day in median antimicrobial duration in adult influenza patients³
Patient outcomes
Patient outcomes

Reduce patient stay and mortality in ICU patients

  • 30.4 hour reduction in turnaround time vs. batch testing¹
  • Stays reduced by 3 days vs. batch testing¹
  • 10% increase in survival when results were reported in <7 hours¹
Healthcare costs
Healthcare costs

Ability to reduce overall healthcare costs

In a major IDN, cost savings were demonstrated in ICU patients tested for respiratory pathogen¹
  • Over $9,000 savings (Positive RP result)
  • Over $8,000 savings (Negative RP result)
Benefits for healthcare providers
Benefits for healthcare providers
Evidence-based diagnostics can help you improve patient outcomes and strengthen your antimicrobial stewardship efforts.
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How clinicians are using QIAstat-Dx to improve patient care
How clinicians are using QIAstat-Dx to improve patient care
Find out how infectious disease experts across the globe are using QIAstat-Dx multiplex PCR panels to provide better care for their patients.
Learn how
Q-Solutions Magazine
Your compass for disease incidence and prevalence

Confidently navigate the ebb and flow of infectious diseases in your community – and beyond – with QIAsphere Insights. Track everything from pathogen diversity, to rates of co-detection, to Ct value measures. With QIAsphere Insights, the power of epidemiology is in your hands.

Syndromic testing article hub

Get the latest insights on syndromic testing for infectious diseases
Syndromic testing for respiratory infections

Syndromic testing for respiratory infections

COVID-19 and influenza-like illnesses will converge this respiratory season. This will put an unprecedented burden on healthcare providers to quickly and accurately distinguish between different respiratory pathogens that often produce similar symptoms in patients. Visit our dedicated resource page to learn how we can support you with syndromic testing this respiratory season.

Syndromic testing for gastrointestinal infections

Gastrointestinal infections can be caused by a variety of different bacteria, viruses and parasites. Some pathogens can cause severe, sometimes life-threatening infections, especially in immunocompromised patients. Visit our dedicated resource page to see how syndromic testing can provide quick answers for gastrointestinal infections.

Female patient
Syndromic testing, patient, girl

Syndromic testing for central nervous system infections

Infections of the central nervous system – meningitis and encephalitis – require immediate medical attention. Rapid diagnosis is crucial for successful patient outcomes. Learn how a syndromic panel test can complement traditional diagnostic approaches by offering comprehensive answers in around an hour.

How does syndromic testing work?

Syndromic testing provides qualitative detection and identification of multiple viral, bacterial, fungal and/or parasitic pathogens in a sample using highly multiplexed real-time PCR. While older molecular methods required multiple different singleplex tests to be run, syndromic testing can provide results for more than 20 pathogens with just one multiplex test. This saves time and resources and increases lab efficiency.
The difference between singleplex PCR and multiplex PCR

How are pathogens detected in syndromic testing?

The real-time PCR reaction that mediates detection of pathogen targets in a patient sample involves four simple steps that take around one hour. In this simplified example, the specific pathogen target being detected is viral RNA.
Isolate viral RNA infographic

What do syndromic test results look like?

Unlike traditional laboratory techniques, which can sometimes produce subjective results, syndromic testing provides a binary answer for pathogen detection: positive or negative.
Positive sample infographic

Syndromic testing simplified

The easy-to-use QIAstat-Dx Analyzer makes syndromic testing especially straightforward. With less the one minute hands-on time – and no precision pipetting – you can get comprehensive results for more than 20 pathogens in around one hour.

QIAstat-Dx analyzer
Bring the accuracy of syndromic testing to your lab
Get in touch to learn how.
Publications on the impact of syndromic testing for respiratory infections
  1. Fox AS and Rao SN (2021) Syndromic testing for the diagnosis of infectious diseases: the right test if used for the right patient. J Antimicrob Chemother 76(Supplement 3):iii2-iii3 https://doi.org/10.1093/jac/dkab248
  2. Dumkow LE, et al. (2021) Syndromic diagnostic testing: a new way to approach patient care in the treatment of infectious diseases. J Antimicrob Chemother 76(Supplement 3):iii4-iii11 https://doi.org/10.1093/jac/dkab245
  3. Rogers BB et al. (2015) Impact of a rapid respiratory panel test on patient outcomes. Arch Pathol Med 139:636-641 https://doi.org/10.5858/arpa.2014-0257-oa
  4. Cassidy, H, et al. (2021) A discussion of syndromic molecular testing for clinical care. J Antimicrob Chemother 76(Supplement 3): iii58–iii66 https://doi.org/10.1093/jac/dkab243
  5. Kitano T, et al. (2020) The impact analysis of a multiplex PCR respiratory panel for hospitalized pediatric respiratory infections in Japan. J Infect Chemother 26:82–85 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jiac.2019.07.014
  6. Brendish NJ, et al. (2020) Clinical impact of molecular point-of-care testing for suspected COVID-19 in hospital (COV-19POC): a prospective, interventional, non-randomised, controlled study. Lancet Respir Med 8(12):1192–120 https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(20)30454-9
  7. Echavarria M, et al. (2018) Clinical impact of rapid molecular detection of respiratory pathogens in patients with acute respiratory infection. J Clin Virol 108:90–95 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcv.2018.09.009
  8. Rappo U, et al. (2016) Impact of Early Detection of Respiratory Viruses by Multiplex PCR Assay on Clinical Outcomes in Adult Patients. J Clin Micro 54(8):2096-103 https://doi.org/10.1128/jcm.00549-16
  9. Lee et al. (2019) Impact of multiplex molecular assay turn-around-time on antibiotic utilization and clinical management of hospitalized children with acute respiratory tract infections. J Clin Virol, 110:11-16 https://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.jcv.2018.11.006
  10. Zhu et al. (2019) A Study of the Use and Outcomes From Respiratory Viral Testing at a Mid-Sized Children’s Hospital. Clin Pediatr, 58(2):185-190 https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0009922818809523
  11. Shengchen et al. (2019) Evaluation of a molecular point-of-care testing for viral and atypical pathogens on intravenous antibiotic duration in hospitalized adults with lower respiratory tract infection: a randomized clinical trial. Clin Microbiol Infec, 25:1415-1421 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmi.2019.06.012
  12. Iroh Tam PY, et al. (2017) Impact of a Transition from Respiratory Virus Shell Vial to Multiplex PCR on Clinical Outcomes and Cost in Hospitalized Children. Children (Basel) 4(1 )https://dx.doi.org/10.3390%2Fchildren4010003
Publications on the impact of syndromic testing for gastrointestinal infections
  1. Beal SG, et al. (2018) A Gastrointestinal PCR Panel Improves Clinical Management and Lowers Health Care Costs. J Clin Microbiol 56(1) https://doi.org/10.1128/jcm.01457-17
  2. Yalamanchili H et al. (2018). Use and Interpretation of Enteropathogen Multiplex Nucleic Acid Amplification Tests in Patients With Suspected Infectious Diarrhea. Gastroenterol Hepatol 14(11):646-652 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6284344/
  3. Binnicker M. (2015) Multiplex Molecular Panels for Diagnosis of Gastrointestinal Infection: Performance, Result Interpretation, and Cost-Effectiveness. J. Clin Microbiol 53(12):3723-3728 https://dx.doi.org/10.1128%2FJCM.02103-15
Publications on the QIAstat-Dx respiratory panels
  1. Boers, SA, et al. (2020) Multicenter evaluation of QIAstat-Dx Respiratory Panel V2 for detection of viral and bacterial respiratory pathogens. J Clin Microbiol 58(6):e01793-19. doi: 10.1128/JCM.01793-19
  2. Bordi L, et al. (2020) Differential diagnosis of illness in patients under investigation for the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), Italy, February 2020. Euro Surveill 25(8): 2000170. doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.8.2000170
  3. Visseaux B, et al. (2020) Evaluation of the QIAstat-Dx Respiratory SARS-CoV-2 Panel, the first rapid multiplex PCR commercial assay for SARS-CoV-2 detection. J Clin Microbiol 58(8):e00630-20. doi: 10.1128/JCM.00630-20
  4. Brendish NJ, et al. (2020) Clinical impact of molecular point-of-care testing for suspected COVID-19 in hospital (COV-19POC): a prospective, interventional, non-randomised, controlled study. Lancet Respir Med (12):1192-1200. doi: 10.1016/S2213-2600(20)30454-9
  5. Agca H, et al. (2021) Changing epidemiology of influenza and other respiratory viruses in the first year of COVID-19 pandemic. J Infect Public Health 14(9):1186-1190. doi: 10.1016/j.jiph.2021.08.004
  6. Parčina M, et al. (2020) Multicenter evaluation of the QIAstat Respiratory Panel-A new rapid highly multiplexed PCR based assay for diagnosis of acute respiratory tract infections. PLoS One 15(3):e0230183. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0230183
  7. Leber AL, et al. (2020) Multicenter evaluation of the QIAstat-Dx Respiratory Panel for detection of viruses and bacteria in nasopharyngeal swab specimens. J Clin Microbiol 58(5):e00155-20. doi: 10.1128/JCM.00155-20
  8. Lebourgeois S, et al. (2021) Performance evaluation of the QIAstat-Dx® Respiratory SARS-CoV-2 Panel. Int J Infect Dis 107:179-181. doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2021.04.066
  9. Peñarrubia L, et al. (2020) Multiple assays in a real-time RT-PCR SARS-CoV-2 panel can mitigate the risk of loss of sensitivity by new genomic variants during the COVID-19 outbreak. Int J Infect Dis 97:225-229. doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2020.06.027
Publications on the QIAstat-Dx Gastrointestinal Panel
References
  1. Martinez, R.M, et al. Clinical Virology Symposium 2016. Poster #C-368
  2. Zhu et al., Clin Pediatr, 2019, 58(2):185-190
  3. Rappo U, et al. J Clin Micro 2016 

 

Data cited pertains to the use of a device from another manufacturer.

The QIAstat-Dx Analyzer, QIAstat-Dx Respiratory SARS-CoV-2 Panel and QIAstat-Dx Gastrointestinal Panel are intended for in vitro diagnostic use. 

The QIAstat-Dx ME Panel is indicated as an aid in the diagnosis of specific agents that cause meningitis and/or encephalitis, and results must be used in conjunction with other clinical, epidemiological, and laboratory data. Results from the QIAstat-Dx ME Panel are not intended to be used as the sole basis for diagnosis, treatment, or other patient management decisions. Positive results do not rule out co-infection with organisms not included in the QIAstat-Dx ME Panel. The agent or agents detected may not be the definite cause of the disease. Negative results do not preclude central nervous system (CNS) infection. 

The QIAstat-Dx ME Panel is intended for in vitro diagnostic use by laboratory professionals only.

Product availability may differ from country to country based on regulations and approvals. Contact your country representative for further details.