$GBSN Led by Dr. Blake W. Buchan from the Department of Pathology at The Medical College of Wisconsin, MI, the study found that Great Basin’s Shiga Toxin Direct Test was 93.2 percent sensitive and 99.3 percent specific for detection of stx1 and stx2, and 95.7 percent sensitive and 99.3 percent specific for detection of E.coli serotype O157. Based on the data from this analysis, culture and EIA-based methods for detection of STEC are only 33 percent sensitive when compared to molecular tests. The total time to result for Great Basin’s Shiga Toxin Direct Test is approximately two hours, compared to approximately 36 to 48 hours for culture-based methods. Great Basin’s Shiga Toxin Direct Test is priced relative to common culture and Enzyme Immunoassay tests, at $24 per test, and provides a cost savings from routine stool culture when accounting for the total material and labor involved. Furthermore, the study concluded that Great Basin’s Shiga Toxin Direct Test increases the positive identification of Shiga Toxin-producing E.coli by three to four times, when compared to similar test panels.
