Pneumonia is the leading cause of death among children worldwide, accounting for 14% of deaths among those under age five. Although pneumonia can arise from either bacterial or viral infection, reliable methods of diagnosing young children are invasive and expensive, frequently putting timely diagnosis out of reach of patients in low- and middle-income countries. Furthermore, new, simpler detection tools will also benefit patients in rural, under-served areas within the United States and other more resourced countries, as well. Where available, the standard treatment for pneumonia is an antibiotic. However, if given to a patient with a viral infection, antibiotics will do nothing to treat the infection and may also contribute to the growing problem of antibiotic resistance. Meanwhile, an expansion of available medicines to treat viral lung infections creates opportunities to save lives of children who are correctly diagnosed at an early stage.
Aiming to address this issue, Sangeeta Bhatia and her group have received a grant from Open Philanthropy to develop a non-invasive, accessible platform to diagnose pediatric pneumonia in under-resourced areas. In 2022, the Bhatia Lab demonstrated that their nanosensor diagnostic could reliably and quickly measure different immune responses to viral and bacterial pneumonia in preclinical models.
