Duke researchers say gene studies can help diagnose flu, other infectious diseases

Duke University researchers have found a way to diagnose infectious diseases such as flu and staph infections more quickly by looking for responses in a patient’s genes. Genomics, a field of genetics that takes into account the entire gene sequence, can identify diseases more quickly and accurately than typical methods, according to studies published earlier this month in PLOS ONE, a peer-reviewed online journal of science and medicine. The researchers examined the ribonucleic acid, or RNA, from blood samples taken from patients. They found that the RNA profiles changed in specific ways among patients exposed to infectious viruses or bacteria, according to Geoffrey Ginsburg, director of genomic medicine at Duke’s Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy and an author on both studies. “Other diagnostic approaches have to be very specific as to what they think the pathogens are,” Ginsburg said. “Our approach doesn’t care, because it takes advantage of the host response,” To conduct...