DURHAM -- 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 patients 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 Dukes 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 doesnt care, because it takes advantage of the host response,

To conduct their research, the scientists inoculated 41 people with H1N1 or H3N2 flu before analyzing their blood samples. Specific changes to the RNA profile, called the Influenza Factor, were found in patients exposed to either flu strain. The test was able to distinguish infected from non-infected individuals with 94 percent accuracy.

In a second study, the researchers found a similar factor for diagnosing staph, a common bacterial infection.

The genomic method can reveal an infection before symptoms appear, allowing treatment to begin almost immediately, Ginsburg said.

If you have been exposed, we can make the prediction on whether you are going to get sick, and consider starting an antiviral medication, Ginsburg said. Such early intervention is likely to make the treatment more effective.

Early treatment could give schools, hospitals and other places where illness spreads quickly a better chance of controlling an outbreak.

Think back to the SARS epidemic [of 2002-2003], when entire schools were being closed and people were being quarantined because we didnt know whether they were actually going to be infected and get sick, Ginsburg said. A cheap and rapid test would have offered a distinct advantage, from a public health point of view.

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

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