tics are often used in treating viral infections such as com-mon colds. To date accurate diagnosis has only been possibleby taking a nose or throat swab from the patient and sendingit to a central laboratory, with the results taking several daysto arrive and generating costs. Consequently, in the absenceof a clear diagnosis, doctors often prefer to play safe by pre-scribing antibiotics. However, not only are these drugs inef-fec- tive in combating viral infections, but their overuse alsocan lead to antibiotic resistance, a phenomenon causing25,000 deaths each year in Europe and placing a 1.5 billioneuro burden on the health system.
ntibiotics are often prescribed for oral and respiratoryinfections even when diagnosis is uncertain. Althoughonly effective in fighting bacterial infections, antibio-
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TOGETHER WITH RESEARCH TEAMS FROM ACROSS EUROPE,AIT IS DEVELOPING A MOBILE DEVICE TO RELIABLY DIAGNOSEORAL AND RESPIRATORY INFECTIONS.
Molecular diagnostic methods enable the fast diagnosisof oral and respiratory infections, helping to preventantibiotic resistance.
DIAGORAS: A LARGE-SCALE EUROPEAN PROJECT
DIAGORAS
The DIAGORAS project has received funding from theEuropean Unionâs Horizon 2020 research and innova-tion programme under grant agreement No 633780.The programme provides 80 billion euros in fundingto take developments relevant to society from the la-boratories to the market and thus strengthen Euro-peâs competitiveness.
Project volume
5.5 million euros
Duration
four years, started on 1 June 2015
Cooperation of
nine project partners from seven EU countries
Project coordinator
Hahn-Schickard Freiburg, Germany
AIT contribution
Development of tests for the detection of bacteria,viruses and antibiotic resistance genes, includingsubsequent system integration.