Rapid detection of wound pathogen Proteus mirabilis using disposable electrochemical sensors

Hannah, Aiden and Ward, Andrew and Connolly, Patricia (2021) Rapid detection of wound pathogen Proteus mirabilis using disposable electrochemical sensors. In: 7th World Congress on Electrical Engineering and Computer Systems Science, 2021-07-29 - 2021-07-31, Virtual. (https://avestia.com/EECSS2021_Proceedings/files/pa...)

[thumbnail of Hannah-etal-EECSS-2021-Rapid-detection-of-wound-pathogen-Proteus-mirabilis-using-disposable-electrochemical-sensors]
Preview
 Text. Filename: Hannah_etal_EECSS_2021_Rapid_detection_of_wound_pathogen_Proteus_mirabilis_using_disposable_electrochemical_sensors.pdf
Final Published Version
Download (547kB)| Preview

Abstract

The detection of infection in clinical practice is a time consuming and laborious process. The ability to monitor infection status in real time, for example in wounds, would enable earlier intervention and improved prognosis. This study describes the real time electrochemical detection of the clinically important pathogen Proteus mirabilis. Using impedance spectroscopy in conjunction with a normalisation approach, the growth of P. mirabilis in LB medium was detected 1 hour after sample inoculation at a cell concentration of 7.4 x106 CFU/mL. Furthermore, a significant decrease in charge transfer resistance arose over the 24 hour growth period (p = 0.009), modelled using a simple equivalent circuit. Additional experiments performed in 0.9% w/v NaCl (where growth was inhibited) indicated that processes facilitated by the organism’s metabolism and growth dominated the impedance response in LB medium. A simulated wound fluid was used to explore a more complex environment, and similar changes to normalised impedance were observed. The ability of these low cost sensors to rapidly detect P. mirabilis highlights their potential for adoption into point-of-care infection monitoring devices.

ORCID iDs

Hannah, Aiden, Ward, Andrew ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5302-5899 and Connolly, Patricia;
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)