This little blue box could provide answers for Aussies with hard to diagnose gastrointestinal diseases

EXCLUSIVE: A new world-first diagnostic tool could offer answers for Australians suffering hard-to-diagnose gastrointestinal (GI) diseases.

Microba, one of Australia's leading biotechnology companies, developed the MetaPanel Metagenomic testing solution to help diagnose difficult-to-detect GI pathogens and develop more targeted and effective treatment plans.

Up to 47 per cent of patients who present to GPs with GI complains remain unresolved, and this test is aimed at slashing that figure.

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It was launched in clinical practices around the country more than a year ago and has helped up to 20 per cent of patients suffering chronic GI symptoms to receive a diagnosis.

"It is the world's most comprehensive test for GI infections [and] it covers 175 targets," Associate Professor Lutz Krause, Microba's chief scientific officer, told 9news.com.au.

That includes 115 DNA pathogens and 60 antimicrobial resistance (AMR) gene families, many of which cannot be detected by any other existing test.

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A clinician orders the MetaPanel test for a patient, who then provides a fecal sample which is tested for these pathogens.

The results and a full report are sent to the clinician and the patient, which are then used to diagnose the cause of GI symptoms and develop a targeted treatment or management plan.

"We have many case reports of patients that went through all kinds of examinations - colonoscopy, endoscopy, CT... they've been on a range of different drugs without getting any resolution," Krause said.

"In around 20 per cent of those patients that I just described, we are able to identify a pathogen that is missed by standard care."

The test is especially useful for patients who have persistent GI symptoms that have not been resolved through other tests, such as those suffering from inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

An estimated 180,000 Australian live with IBD, which includes Crohn's disease and Colitis. More than 91,000 experience active disease.

The incidence of IBD is also increasing globally and Australia is at the front of the pack, meaning more Australians are seeking and receiving diagnoses.

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Microba chief technology officer Dr David Wood has spent years working on the technology and said he was excited to see how it might help Australians.

It presents a new avenue for people with hard-to-diagnose GI symptoms to seek answers and will be meaningful for those who have been suffering for months or even years without a resolution.

"For a clinically meaningful subset of patients with these chronic conditions, they're getting a new answer that potentially resolves the condition," Wood said.

An early review of the first 278 MetaPanel samples support the utility of the test in diagnosing difficult-to-detect GI pathogens and identifying clinically relevant AMR genes.

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