Valley Fever New testing technology developed by TGen and NAU receives US patent

Valley Fever New testing technology developed by TGen and NAU receives US patent -

valley fever, a potentially fatal disease dust of fungal origin, should be more easy to diagnose and treat through testing technology developed by the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) and Northern Arizona University (NAU), and now protected by a patent issued today by the US patent and Trademark office .

TGen and NAU have an exclusive license to this technology for DxNA LLC, a company based in St. George, Utah, which plans to make this Test Valley fever commercially available in hospitals and clinics at the end of FDA clinical trials and FDA 510 (k) subsequent submission for consideration and approval later this year.

valley fever is endemic in Phoenix and Tucson, but also spreads in arid regions of North and South America. It is an infection caused by the fungus Coccidioides , a pathogen that lives in desert soils and enters the body through the lungs usually. An estimated 150,000 Americans are infected each year with valley fever, and as many as 500 die each year.

"Currently, there is no definitive test for valley fever. Our new, fast 1 hour, based genetic test will provide doctors and patients with accurate diagnosis, which allows a Quick treatment and prevention of this disease becomes more severe, "said Dr. Paul Keim, Director of TGen Pathogen Genomics Division, or TGen North, based in Flagstaff.

"for the past decade, TGen worked to develop better tools and technology to meet valley fever, and we believe it is essential to be able to apply our knowledge of vanguard to problems in our own backyard, "said Dr. Keim, who is also the Endowed Chair Cowden Microbiology at NAU, and director of NAU Center for Microbial Genetics and Genomics (MGGen).

Fever of the valley most often causes a progressive lung infection, but can also spread to other parts of the body, including the skin, bones, brain and the rest of the nervous system

Nearly 60 percent of people infected with valley fever -. including other vertebrates, and especially dogs. - develop any significant symptoms However, some patients develop symptoms very disabling, such as cough, fever and fatigue. These symptoms are similar to other respiratory diseases caused by bacteria or viruses, and often lead to delayed diagnosis and inappropriate treatment. severe fever Valley may require lifelong treatment with antifungal drugs, and even death

This new genetic test can accurately identify based both fever strains the valley :. Posadasii Coccidioides, found in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and much of Latin America, and Coccidioides immitus, located in California, Washington and Baja Mexico.

Most infections occur in the central and southern Arizona. Each year, on average, there are an estimated 150,000 cases in Arizona, resulting in over 1,700 hospitalizations at a cost of more than $ 86 million.

"These costs are driven to a significant degree by the high level of misdiagnosis, resulting in an average time of diagnosis from 5 months from when a patient first seeks care," said David Taus, CEO of DxNA LLC. "Our test gives final results in 60 minutes, significantly improving the diagnosis of the disease on the current methodologies, both in terms of time and precision."

The intellectual property used in Test Valley Fever DxNA is exclusive to DxNA LLC, and covers both human and veterinary applications, Taus said.