Direct analysis of wounds for infections   

Chronic wounds cause major humanitarian and economic burden in the United States. Nearly 15% of Medicare beneficiaries (8.2 million) have at least one type of chronic wound. Surgical infections are the largest category (4.0%), followed by diabetes-related infections (3.4%). Total Medicare spending to treat all wound types is estimated at $28.1 to $96.8 billion per year. Costs of treating surgical wounds are estimated to cost up to $38.3 billion per year and diabetic foot ulcers up to $18.7 billion per year. The humanitarian burden of chronic wounds is also very high. Chronic wounds may require several years to heal, and some remain unhealed for decades. During this time, patients can experience severe pain, significant emotional and physical distress, reduced mobility, and social isolation. Chronic wounds cause severe emotional and physical trauma to both patients and families and may result in severe disability or amputation after all available therapies have been exhausted.

A major impediment to treatment of chronic wounds is a clear understanding of their etiology. Effectively targeted antimicrobial therapy, especially within 48 hours, can reduce risk of treatment failure, extended hospital stays, and mortality. Chronic wounds can have a complex microbiome not amenable to deciphering by culture methods in part because infectious agents in chronic wounds form biofilms. Janus-I Science technology is designed to identify a broad range of organisms and an enormous diversity of drug resistance mechanisms quickly and directly from patient specimens have enormous potential to advance the field of chronic wound treatment.