The old adage, “A stitch in time saves nine” holds true in the ambit of early diagnosis of infection followed by timely treatment. Early detection translates to a world of difference in disease outcomes and patient prognosis.
Dr. Deepthi Appanna, an anesthesiologist, who worked at a low-resource government setup summed up one of the lacunae in infection diagnosis: a patient’s blood culture report was received, sometimes after 5 days since the pathology lab was closed on weekends. And, due to delays in getting the reports of a patient’s ailment in time, there are instances where a patient’s life is lost. Mortality due to pathogen infection is higher in patients with underlying conditions and hence, early detection is critical for patient care.
