S. aureus bacteremia (SAB) is a common condition with high rates of morbidity and mortality. Current methods used to diagnose SAB take at least a day, and often longer. Patients with suspected bacteremia must therefore be empirically treated, often unnecessarily, while assay results are pending. In this proof-of-concept study, we describe an inexpensive assay that detects SAB via the detection of micrococcal nuclease (an enzyme secreted by S. aureus) in patient plasma samples in less than three hours. In total, 17 patient plasma samples from culture-confirmed S. aureus bacteremic individuals were tested. 16 of these yielded greater nuclease assay signals than samples from uninfected controls or individuals with non-S. aureus bacteremia. These results suggest that a nuclease-detecting assay may enable the rapid and inexpensive diagnosis of SAB, which is expected to substantially reduce the mortality and morbidity that result from this condition.
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science
1
3%
Other
4
13%
Unknown
10
33%
Attention Score in Context
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 31. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 05 August 2025.
All research outputs
#1,513,466
of 31,634,113 outputs
Outputs from PLOS ONE
#17,366
of 212,087 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#20,094
of 333,473 outputs
Outputs of similar age from PLOS ONE
#346
of 4,702 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 31,634,113 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 95th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 212,087 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 17.1. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 91% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 333,473 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 94% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 4,702 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 92% of its contemporaries.
