Diarrhea Tests: xTAG® Gastrointestinal Pathogen Panel (GPP)

Gastrointestinal Pathogen Panel (GPP) detects 14 common viruses, bacteria, and parasites that cause infectious diarrhea.

Diarrheal disease strikes more than two billion times globally each year and is a leading cause of child morbidity and mortality worldwide(1). In the United States alone, 99 million cases of GI infection occur annually, leading to over 250,000 hospitalizations(2) and 17,000 deaths(3), inflicting a significant toll on the healthcare system. Diagnosis of some causes of infectious gastroenteritis has traditionally required multiple tests across the microbiology, virology, and molecular laboratories for which results may not be available for several days. 

The Luminex xTAG Gastrointestinal Pathogen Panel is one test, with one stool sample and it can produce 14 results. From this single and simple laboratory test, one can get results for the 14 most common causes of infectious gastroenteritis from a single stool sample. It is a qualitative multiples test intended for the simultaneous detection and identification of nucleic acids from multiple gastroenteritis-causing viruses, bacteria and parasites (including toxin gene detection) in human stool samples that are fresh, frozen or in a holding medium, from individuals with signs and symptoms of infectious colitis or gastroenteritis. The following pathogen types and subtypes are identified using the xTAG GPP:

• Campylobacter
• Clostridium difficile Toxin A/B
• Cryptosporidium
• E. coli O157
• Enterotoxigenic E.coli (ETEC)
• Shiga Toxin-producing E. coli (STEC)
• Giardia lamblia
• Norovirus GI/GII
• Rotavirus A
• Salmonella
• Shigella

In conclusion, one can get fast, comprehensive results of 14 most common pathogen targets of the causative bacterial, viral and parasitic agents of gastroenteritis with our Luminex xTAG Gastrointestinal Pathogen Panel (GPP) molecular testing. It is simplified because all 14 targets are included in one test hence requiring only one sample. As discussed earlier, co-infections can be detected and handled earlier when the Luminex GPP test is used. Apart from that, it can assist in reducing overall cost for both the patient and hospitals as well as decreasing isolation days. 

References:

• https://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs330/en/index.html
• https://www.clevelandclinicmeded.com/medicalpubs/diseasemanagement/gastroenterology/acute-diarrhea/ 
• https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2012/p0314_gastroenteritis.html