Febrile illness is a common condition and it is crucial to have an early triage of patients according to various aetiologies to enable appropriate treatment. Currently, most screening/diagnostic tests target the detection of pathogens, while only a few assays aim to understand the host response, and they are mostly based on a measurement of serum proteins (e.g. CRP or procalcitonin). Recently, blood transcriptome has been explored to differentiate bacterial and viral infections. However, gene expression in blood represents a composite score of gene expression of all the component cell-types present in the sample. Here, we propose to develop a rapid test that can determine gene expressions of a specified single cell type in peripheral blood (e.g., monocytes or granulocytes) as a host response biomarker to differentiate three major categories of infections that are bacterial, viral, and tuberculosis The assay is called Direct Leukocyte Single cell-type transcript abundance (TA) assay (DIRECT LS-TA) as it can directly determine the gene expression of a specified single cell-type among various other leukocyte populations directly in a peripheral blood sample. Such results signify the nature of host response according to 3 or more axes (Type I or Type II interferon signaling response or pro-inflammatory cytokine signaling) And it can be used to indicate the type of underlying infection (viral, bacterial, or active tuberculosis).
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Viral host response Direct LS-TA in monocytes (Type I interferon response)
Timeframe: first collected sample within the first week after admission
Viral host response Direct LS-TA in granulocytes (Type I interferon response)
Timeframe: first collected sample within the first week after admission
Bacterial infection host response Direct LS-TA in monocytes (pro-inflammatory response)
Timeframe: first collected sample within the first week after admission
Bacterial infection host response Direct LS-TA in granulocytes (pro-inflammatory response)
Timeframe: first collected sample within the first week after admission
Active TB host response Direct LS-TA in monocytes (Type II interferon response)
Timeframe: first collected sample within the first week after admission
Active TB host response Direct LS-TA in granulocytes (Type II interferon response)
Timeframe: first collected sample within the first week after admission