After speaking with Cathy, a registered nurse in a Boston-area hospital, we've decided to narrow the scope of our project and focus on detecting bacteria on catheters, foley catheters in particular, as a great number of nosocomial infections are urinary tract infections due to catheters placed in the urinary tract.
From a preliminary search of catheters and bacteria detection systems we've found very few existing technologies:
- a "rapid and direct staining technique for epifluorescence light microscopy which gives a quick and accurate means of detecting and quantitating biofilm bacteria on catheter surfaces."
This is different from our project because it requires advanced microscopy in order to detect the bacteria, and we are trying to develop a system where a person can detect the presence of bacteria with the naked eye through a color change.
-"a sterile connector which will prevent contamination from external bacteria when used in things like intravenous tubes and catheters". (Patent number 201-428-2884)
This focuses on preventing infection rather than detecting bacteria; it also focuses on external bacteria, whereas we are also interested in detecting internal bacteria.
We are continuing to look at other available products and published research.
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