xTAG Gastrointestinal Pathogen Panel (GPP), which recently received approval from US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), is one lab test that can do the job of many, expertly scanning a solitary stool sample for 11 different illness-inducing organisms.
To many, that sounds an impressive feat in an of itself. But considering that 179 million Americans are stricken with gastroenteritis every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it’s also one that can come in handy. Infectious gastroenteritis is caused by certain viruses, bacteria, or parasites and can be spread easily through person-to-person contact or from contaminated food, water, and surfaces. Symptoms include vomiting and diarrhea.
The xTAG can scan for bacteria including Campylobacter, Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) toxin A/B, Escherichia coli (E. coli) O157, Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) LT/ST, Salmonella, Shigella and Shiga‐like Toxin producing E. coli (STEC) stx 1/stx 2. It can scan for viruses including Norovirus and Rotavirus A. And it can scan for parasites such as Cryptosporidium and Giardia.
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