Francis makes it easier to diagnose infection

NST: KUALA TERENGGANU: Microbiologist Alex Francis used to be filled with frustration when he encountered patients who died from melioidosis, a bacterial infection.
His frustration stemmed from the fact that these people could have been saved if only the infection had been diagnosed earlier.
"The symptoms are hard to detect as it could be as common as a high fever or a cold," said the scientist attached to Hospital Tengku Ampuan Afzan, Kuantan.
"Some of the patients come in at a very late stage and the last thing they need is a late diagnosis.
"I was frustrated that we could not detect it earlier and it is sad as it affects the poor," Francis told the New Straits Times, adding that farmers, labourers and those who work with soil were more prone to the infection.
Determined to prevent these needless deaths, the 48-year-old collaborated with Universiti Sains Malaysia and Hospital Kuala Terengganu three years ago to come up with a method which could hasten the diagnosis and enable the correct antibiotics to be prescribed.
The result of the collaboration is Francis Media which takes only 18 hours to diagnose the disease compared with 72 hours needed by conventional mediums such as MacConkey, Blood Agar and Ashdown.
Francis Media is a modified version of the Ashdown medium.
Both MacConkey and Blood Agar are used in Malaysian hospitals while Ashdown is widely used in international hospitals.
The mediums are gel-like substances for blood sample cultures.
Apart from shortening the diagnostic period, it is also cheaper to produce Francis Media as it is half the cost of conventional mediums.
There is also no need for additional training to read the plate as the medium uses colour to confirm the presence of the bacteria.
Conventional methods rely on doctors recognising the characteristics of the bacteria.
The Francis Media has also been approved by the Institute of Medical Research Malaysia and has been published in an international medical journal entitled Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Disease.
For his breakthrough research, Francis yesterday won RM5,000 at the Public Service Innovation Awards 2006 here.