Normally, the presence of Group B Streptococcus (GBS) is nothing to worry about, but for pregnant women this Gram-positive bacterium can be deadly — if transferred to infants during labor. An accurate test is crucial since intrapartum antibiotics significantly reduce the spread of GBS from mom to baby.¹

Mamas-to-be can now breathe a collective sigh of relief armed with the knowledge that COPAN’s PhenoMATRIX^® Artificial Intelligence (AI) software not only exhibited similar sensitivity to that of molecular methods, but was also much more accurate than the time-consuming manual method, according to a recent Journal of Clinical Microbiology publication titled, Digital image analysis for the detection of Group B Streptococcus from ChromID StreptoB Media using a PhenoMatrix^® Artificial Intelligence Software Algorithm. ²

“COPAN’s PhenoMATRIX^® not only was able to detect more true positive cultures than manual review of digital culture images, but it shows that chromogenic cultures together with artificial intelligence algorithms can detect GBS colonization with the same high sensitivity as molecular detection systems,” said COPAN Diagnostics’ Scientific Director Dr. Susan Sharp.

The study, which was published on October 21, 2020, evaluated the performance of the PhenoMatrix^® Chromogenic Detection Module digital imaging software’s ability to detect GBS from LIM broth plated on bioMérieux’s CHROMID^® Strepto Battwo clinical laboratories.

After 48 hours of incubation, the sensitivity of COPAN’s PhenoMATRIX^® was similar to the BD MAX™ GBS molecular test — 95.5% to 96.8% respectively — and significantly higher than manual at 90.3%.²

Another noteworthy discovery was that COPAN’s software never inaccurately called a culture that was determined to be a positive a negative, and it identified an additional eight true positive specimens that were missed by manual reading.  This finding establishes that the innovative PhenoMATRIX^® AI, plus classic culture, is quite the powerful combination at a fraction of the cost of molecular testing.

“COPAN’s AI software, along with the use of chromogenic agars has made our decades-old agar culture for the detection of pathogens ‘new’ again,” Sharp added.

PhenoMATRIX^® is an advanced set of highly sophisticated AI that gives WASPLab® users the power to automatically pre-assess and pre-sort culture plates, read, interpret and segregate bacterial cultures.

By grouping negative cultures, which are the majority of the cultures screened, staff can quickly review up to 40 plates per computer screen and batch release negative results — eliminating the need to review each plate manually — saving time and freeing up technicians to focus on more complex tasks.

Contact us for more information about COPAN’s state-of-the-art PhenoMATRIX^® software and how you can add these intelligent algorithms to your WASPLab^® system.

See How PhenoMATRIX^® and Digital Microbiology are Redefining What’s Possible in Clinical Microbiology

References:

1. CDC. Group B Strep (GBS) Fast Facts. https://www.cdc.gov/groupbstrep/about/fast-facts.html. Last reviewed June 11, 2020. Accessed October 27, 2020. 2. Baker J, et al.Digital image analysis for the detection of Group B Streptococcus from ChromID StreptoB Media using a PhenoMatrix Artificial Intelligence Software Algorithm. J Clin Microbiol. 2020; doi:10.1128/JCM.01902-19

About COPAN

With a reputation for innovation, COPAN is the leading manufacturer of collection and transport systems in the world.  COPAN’s collaborative approach to pre-analytics has resulted in Flocked Swabs, ESwab™, UTM® Universal Transport Medium, and laboratory automation, WASP® and WASPLab®.  COPAN carries a range of microbial sampling products, inoculation loops, and pipettes.  For more information, visit www.copanusa.com.