FINDpath: Fast I(n)Dentification of PATHogens

Sepsis is the body-wide response to infection. People who develop sepsis have an increased risk of dying. One of the greatest challenges in sepsis is determining what is the pathogen (bacteria or virus for example) in a timely manner so the most specific antibiotics can be given to treat the infection. Patients presenting to the hospital and the intensive care unit often have lung infections. In this study the investigators plan to develop new techniques to rapidly (less than 6 hours) identify bacteria growing in the airways of patients on ventilators. The investigators will obtain these samples by suctioning the airways (a routine procedure) and comparing the bacterial cultures grown by novel culture media with the usual techniques in the hospital microbiology laboratory. At the same time the investigators will collect a blood sample. This blood sample will be used to isolate the bacterial genetic material and use this to compare with bacteria grown on the culture media from the clinical and the research laboratory. The investigators will also collect information on the patient's course in hospital. These pilot study results will allow us to integrate this new technique into routine patient care.