Abstract
Bloodstream infections (BSIs) cause serious illnesses that can lead to sepsis. Sepsis
accounted for almost 20% of all global deaths in 2017 according to the World Health
Organization [1]. The SIMBLE-team has recently developed a low-cost diagnostic
device to aid in the diagnosis of BSIs designed for use in low- and middle-income
countries called the “turbidimeterâ€Â. It operates based on the change in turbidity of the
fluid inside the blood culture bottle. This work looked to further improve the device for
faster detection of more types of bacterial species. The two ways of doing this were adding
more sensors and looking at the effect of sample volume. To do this, new sensor boards
were designed. Afterwards, in vitro testing with human blood spiked with bacteria was
done to examine the performance of the new measuring setup. The results showed that
the sensors should be placed near the top of the liquid to allow for the earliest possible
detection of bacteria. Additionally, an increase in blood and broth volume led to a longer
sedimentation phase during which bacterial growth cannot be detected.
[1] WHO. "Sepsis." https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/sepsis (accessed 2 October, 2023). Related Projects
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