Blood Culture Identification (BCID) Panels

The More You Detect, The Better You Protect

GenMark’s ePlex^® Blood Culture Identification (BCID) Panels provide broad coverage of organisms that can lead to sepsis along with their resistance genes. This broad coverage means that about 95% of currently identified bloodstream infections can be detected early with the ePlex BCID Panels, compared to other panels that detect significantly fewer sepsis-causing bacteria and fungi (Table 1).

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ePlex BCID Panels: Sepsis and COVID-19

COVID-19 grew to pandemic proportions in 2020, with global case numbers approaching 100M by the end of the year. Although most cases are mild, some patients are at higher risk, with an overall mortality rate of >2%¹. The mortality rate of sepsis can be as high as 75% depending on the agent causing infection² and because the clinical presentation of COVID-19 and sepsis can be similar, antimicrobial use has increased during the pandemic³ further driving antimicrobial resistance. Rapid detection or rule-out of bacterial or fungal co-infections and secondary infections can help reduce unnecessary or inadequate antimicrobial therapy.

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Early Identification Helps Improve Patient Outcomes

It is estimated that 20-30% of patients receive ineffective initial antibiotic therapy and the mortality rate for these patients increases up to 7.6% for every hour effective antibiotics are delayed.^4,5

The ePlex BCID Panels aid clinicians in the identification of bacterial and fungal organisms as well as antibiotic resistance genes within approximately 1.5 hours of blood culture bottle positivity, allowing treatment decisions to occur days earlier than with conventional methods. Unique ePlex solutions, like the ePlex Templated Comments Module, can help to improve antimicrobial stewardship and optimize patient care.

The Most Comprehensive Molecular Blood Culture Panels

The ePlex BCID Panels offer the broadest coverage of organisms and resistance markers that cause bloodstream infections (BSI) and can lead to sepsis, including anaerobes and multi-drug resistant organisms (MDRO), as well as common and emerging fungal pathogens (Table 1). The ePlex BCID Fungal Pathogen (FP) Panel was the first FDA-cleared multiplex molecular panel to include Candida auris, a multi-drug resistant fungal organism that is increasing in prevalence around the world.⁶

Table 1: ePlex BCID Panels detect more of the organisms that cause Bloodstream Infections than other multiplex panels

Blood culture panel target inclusivity based on prevalence of organisms that cause bloodstream infections in the United States – 3 clinical sample sets: a) Combined 5 US geographically diverse hospitals (n=15,793), b) GenMark’s prospective clinical trial database (n=1976 from 10 US clinical study sites), c) Potula et. al. (2015) MLO ; https://www.mlo-online.com/automated-blood-culture-testing.php (n = 2,569)²

Resistance Genes Inform Rapid Clinical Decision Making

The ePlex BCID Panels include 4 gram-positive and 10 gram-negative resistance genes that can be detected days earlier than conventional antimicrobial susceptibility tests (AST), enabling earlier escalation of therapy for resistant organisms or de-escalation of empirical antimicrobials in the case of common contaminants or when a narrower antibiotic is more appropriate. Rapid detection of antibiotic resistance genes when applied with local epidemiology of resistance, has been shown to have a high percent agreement with subsequent phenotypic susceptibility testing, allowing for recommendation of a targeted therapy earlier.⁸

Rapidly Rule-Out Blood Culture Contamination

As much as 15 to 30% of positive blood cultures may be due to contaminants which can result in continuation of unnecessary antibiotics⁹. ePlex BCID Panels are designed to allow labs to more rapidly differentiate a contaminant from a true infection, enabling rapid de-escalation and discharge of patients with a bloodstream infection 2-3 days earlier than conventional methods.
Common contaminants included on the ePlex BCID-GP panel but not on most competitor’s panels include:

• Bacillus subtilis
• Corynebacterium
• Cutibacterium acnes
• Micrococcus
• Lactobacillus

For more information on the ePlex BCID Panels

BCID Clinical Brochure   BCID TriFold

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To learn more about the Blood Culture Identification (BCID) Panels or to schedule a demonstration, contact us at 1.800.373.6767 or click below

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