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MURRAY — Flu activity has reached epidemic levels and is now in 43 states throughout the country.
Nine people have already died from it in Salt Lake County. With the flu and other viruses out in full swing, it is important for medical professionals to be able to detect and then quickly treat their patients.
That's exactly what these machines do at Intermountain Medical Center in Murray. And although they look like an everyday printer, they are much more.
The Film Array Respiratory test has cut the result time of a patient sample from about six hours down to roughly 60 minutes.
"With this type of testing, they get results and info much quicker,” said Dr. Jeremy Wallentine, director of the Intermountain Medical Central Lab. “They have that information and can make more appropriate decisions in terms of, ‘Do I use antibiotics?’”
This dramatic drop has allowed doctors to more effectively treat the ailments a person has and help prevent serious complications from the virus.
“In some instances, we can identify two or more viruses or bacteria,” he said. “It is important and has been shown to correlate with more severe illness.”
Intermountain Healthcare is home to a total of 16 machines throughout its different hospitals. And through flu season they are constantly testing for 20 pathogens.
"We've certainly seen an increase in the volume of our work, starting late November into December, and it’s certainly continuing to ramp up,” Wallentine said. “This have been a severe flu season.”
Doctors are hoping these machines will help cut back on the spread of the flu this year.
