IDEXX's Pseudalert® test, for the 24 hour detection of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa), has won the prestigious ‘Product Innovation in Healthcare’ Award at the Institute of Healthcare Engineering and Estate Management’s (IHEEM) annual Exhibition, Conference and Dinner, which took place in Manchester, UK, on the 7th and 8th October 2014.

The Awards recognise the work and commitment to excellence by public and private healthcare providers. The judging panel, which was made up of industry experts in healthcare and facilities management, awarded the top honour for innovation to Pseudalert, which uses a novel Bacterial Enzyme Technology to identify P. aeruginosa, giving either a presence/absence, or quantified result in 24 hours, less than half the time taken by traditional membrane filtration (agar based) methods.

IDEXX introduced the Pseudalert test into the UK healthcare sector earlier this year, to facilitate the rapid detection and identification of P. aeruginosa in hospital water systems. In areas where patients are most vulnerable to P. aeruginosa infection, such as high dependency units, neo-natal departments and burns wards, any ambiguity or delay in results, is potentially serious.

“We are deeply honoured to receive this recognition from the IHEEM judges, especially in view of the strength of the entries in this category,” commented Andrew Headland, Senior Business Manager, for IDEXX EMEA. “The award for Pseudalert is particularly pleasing as it illustrates that the health industry acknowledges the importance of rapid and regular P. aeruginosa testing in healthcare environments.”

Pseudalert is a well established method for rapid detection of P. aeruginosa in tap water, bottled water, pools and spas. The launch of Pseudalert in the healthcare sector comes after IDEXX completed a Pan European study in 2014 demonstrating that the product was suitable for use for this application. In June 2014, a statement was issued by IDEXX informing hospitals and facilities management organisations that Pseudalert is now compliant with the requirements of the HTM04 guidelines for hospital water testing.

The product consists of a powder, which is added to a standard 100ml water sample and then incubated for 24 hours in the case of presence/absence determination. This step takes less than 1 minute of hands-on time. Presence of P. aeruginosa is determined by subsequent fluorescence of the sample following incubation. Where quantification of a sample is required, IDEXX has developed a simple device known as a Quanti-Tray®, which consists of 51 individually sealable cells. The Quanti-Tray can also be incubated for 24 hours after which the fluorescent cells can be counted and quantified. Actively growing strains of P. aeruginosa have an enzyme that cleaves the substrate in the reagent to produce blue fluorescence under ultraviolet light. Pseudalert detects P. aeruginosa at 1 CFU in either 100 ml or 250 ml water samples and gives a confirmed result within 24 hours.

The simplicity of IDEXX water testing solutions has seen other products widely adopted in testing laboratories around the world. Where access to microbiology laboratories is restricted, such as on cruise ships, oil rigs and even the International Space Station, IDEXX technologies have also been used.