Each year over 20 million children in the US and Europe are diagnosed with ear infection3. A much larger number are examined by pediatricians and family doctors. Once an infection is detected, doctors have no way of instantly diagnosing whether the fluid buildup behind the ear drum is of bacterial or viral origin. Consequently, patients either receive no medication apart from pain relief or are prescribed antibiotics which may not help them and may cause short term and/or long term undesirable side effects (especially with toddlers up to 2 years old).
IR-Med has developed an advanced otoscope, known as Nobiotics, to give doctors an immediate indication whether the infection is viral or bacterial. The device works on similar IR-spectrographic analysis technology as PressureSafe and uses AI to enable the treatment decision to be made “on the spot”(in-situ).
The device is consistent with the major goal of health authorities around the world to reduce the use of antibiotics. Start in 2019, the World Health Organization4 called antimicrobial resistance pathogens’ ability to evade medical interventions—one of the 10 largest threats to global health. In the US alone, according to a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report, 35,000 people die each year due to antibiotic-resistant infections. A new study published in the BMJ showed that as a result of doctors incorrectly prescribing antibiotics, up to 43% of U.S. antibiotic prescriptions may be “inappropriate”.
