System and method for tracking and controlling infections
First Claim
1. A method of tracking the spread of infectious bacteria, comprising:
- obtaining a plurality of bacterium samples from a plurality of patients or objects at a plurality of different physical locations;
performing DNA sequencing on a first region of deoxyribonucleic acid from each bacterium sample, the first region consisting essentially of a variable number of tandem repeats (VNTRs) region;
storing in a database for each of the plurality of bacterium samples;
a) the nucleotide sequence data from the first sequenced region of each bacterium sample, and b) the physical location of the patient or object from which each bacterium sample was obtained;
comparing the nucleotide sequence data stored in the database of at least two of the plurality of samples on both a base pair level and a repeat motif level;
determining a measure of phylogenetic relatedness between the compared samples based upon differences between the compared nucleotide sequence data;
identifying patients infected or objects contaminated with phylogenetically related bacteria based on the phylogenetic relatedness determination;
tracking the spread over time of the bacteria based on;
a) the identified patients or contaminated objects, and b) the physical locations of the identified patients or objects stored in the database; and
providing a warning based on the tracking of the spread of the bacteriawherein the warning allows the recipient of the warning to control the further spread of the bacteria, and further wherein said region consisting essentially of a variable number of tandem repeats (VNTRs) comprise at least one sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO;
55, SEQ ID NO;
57, SEQ ID NO;
58, SEQ ID NO;
59, SEQ ID NO;
60, SEQ ID NO;
61, SEQ ID NO;
62, SEQ ID NO;
63, SEQ ID NO;
64, SEQ ID NO;
65, SEQ ID NO;
66, SEQ ID NO;
67, SEQ ID NO;
68, SEQ ID NO;
69, SEQ ID NO;
70, SEQ ID NO;
71, SEQ ID NO;
72, SEQ ID NO;
73, SEQ ID NO;
74, SEQ ID NO;
78, SEQ ID NO;
79, and SEQ ID NO;
80.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention is a system and method for performing real-time infection control over a computer network. The method comprises obtaining a sample of a microorganism at a health care facility, sequencing a first region of a nucleic acid from the microorganism sample, comparing the first sequenced region with historical sequence data stored in a database, determining a measure of phylogenetic relatedness between the microorganism sample and historical samples stored in the database, and providing infection control information based on the phylogenetic relatedness determination to the health care facility, thereby allowing the health care facility to use the infection control information to control or prevent the spread of an infection.
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Citations
36 Claims
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1. A method of tracking the spread of infectious bacteria, comprising:
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obtaining a plurality of bacterium samples from a plurality of patients or objects at a plurality of different physical locations; performing DNA sequencing on a first region of deoxyribonucleic acid from each bacterium sample, the first region consisting essentially of a variable number of tandem repeats (VNTRs) region; storing in a database for each of the plurality of bacterium samples;
a) the nucleotide sequence data from the first sequenced region of each bacterium sample, and b) the physical location of the patient or object from which each bacterium sample was obtained;comparing the nucleotide sequence data stored in the database of at least two of the plurality of samples on both a base pair level and a repeat motif level; determining a measure of phylogenetic relatedness between the compared samples based upon differences between the compared nucleotide sequence data; identifying patients infected or objects contaminated with phylogenetically related bacteria based on the phylogenetic relatedness determination; tracking the spread over time of the bacteria based on;
a) the identified patients or contaminated objects, and b) the physical locations of the identified patients or objects stored in the database; andproviding a warning based on the tracking of the spread of the bacteria wherein the warning allows the recipient of the warning to control the further spread of the bacteria, and further wherein said region consisting essentially of a variable number of tandem repeats (VNTRs) comprise at least one sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO;
55, SEQ ID NO;
57, SEQ ID NO;
58, SEQ ID NO;
59, SEQ ID NO;
60, SEQ ID NO;
61, SEQ ID NO;
62, SEQ ID NO;
63, SEQ ID NO;
64, SEQ ID NO;
65, SEQ ID NO;
66, SEQ ID NO;
67, SEQ ID NO;
68, SEQ ID NO;
69, SEQ ID NO;
70, SEQ ID NO;
71, SEQ ID NO;
72, SEQ ID NO;
73, SEQ ID NO;
74, SEQ ID NO;
78, SEQ ID NO;
79, and SEQ ID NO;
80.- View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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28. A system for tracking the spread of infectious bacteria, comprising:
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a computer network; a centralized database; a facility, connected to the computer network, where a plurality of bacterium samples from a plurality of patients or objects at a plurality of different locations are obtained; a server connected to the computer network, the server receiving nucleotide sequence data for a first sequenced region of a deoxyribonucleic acid from each of the plurality of bacterium samples and a physical location of a patient or object from which each bacterium sample was obtained, the first sequenced region consisting essentially of a variable number of tandem repeats (VNTRs) region; storing in a database for each of the plurality of bacterium samples;
a) the nucleotide sequence data from each of the plurality of bacterium samples, and b) the physical location of the patient or object from which each bacterium sample was obtained;accessing the centralized database and comparing the stored nucleotide sequence data of at least two of the plurality of bacterium samples; determining a measure of phylogenetic relatedness between the compared samples; identifying patients infected or objects contaminated with phylogenetically related bacteria based on the phylogenetic relatedness determination; tracking the spread over time of the bacteria based on a) the identified patients or objects, and b) and the physical locations of the identified patients or objects stored in the database; and transmitting a warning over the computer network to the facility based on the tracking of the spread of the bacteria, thereby allowing the facility to control further spread of the bacterial infection, wherein said region consisting essentially of a variable number of tandem repeats (VNTRs) comprise at least one sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO;
55, SEQ ID NO;
57, SEQ ID NO;
58, SEQ ID NO;
59, SEQ ID NO;
60, SEQ ID NO;
61, SEQ ID NO;
62, SEQ ID NO;
63, SEQ ID NO;
64, SEQ ID NO;
65, SEQ ID NO;
66, SEQ ID NO;
67, SEQ ID NO;
68, SEQ ID NO;
69, SEQ ID NO;
70, SEQ ID NO;
71, SEQ ID NO;
72, SEQ ID NO;
73, SEQ ID NO;
74, SEQ ID NO;
78, SEQ ID NO;
79, and SEQ ID NO;
80.- View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36)
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Specification