Deborah Heart and Lung Center is First Hospital in New Jersey to Implement New Blood Test That Quickly Distinguishes Between Bacterial and Viral Infections

Browns Mills, N.J.—Deborah Heart and Lung Center (Deborah) is the first hospital in New Jersey to use Diasorin’s LIAISON® MeMed BV® test to determine whether an infection is bacterial or viral, allowing physicians to offer the right treatment, faster — a milestone that reinforces the hospital’s commitment to clinical excellence, innovation, and responsible care delivery.

Until now, diagnostic methods to distinguish between bacterial and viral infections were imperfect at best and often led to overuse of antibiotics more than 40 percent of the time. Likewise, to reduce the side effects patients often experience using antibiotics, some physicians tend to under-prescribe antibiotics as much as 20 percent of the time.

Now laboratory technicians at Deborah can run a simple blood sample through Diasorin’s automated LIAISON® MeMed BV® test to produce a numeric score in under an hour that distinguishes whether the infection is bacterial or viral, and whether a co-infection is present. 

“This accomplishment underscores the strength of Deborah’s cross-functional collaboration across laboratory services, clinical leadership, infection prevention, pharmacy, and operations,” said John J. Hill, MBA, RRT-NPS, Vice President, Pulmonary Product Line/Clinical Ancillary Services at Deborah. “It’s another example of how disciplined innovation leads to tangible improvements in both care quality and operational effectiveness.”

Diasorin’s LIAISON® MeMed BV® uses host-response technology to provide faster, more accurate diagnostics with a simple blood draw. Unlike traditional testing that requires time to grow cultures to identify a specific pathogen, host-response testing analyzes how the immune system responds to an illness to determine the type of infection. Since the immune system will produce a unique response to specific types of infections, this leads to more timely, accurate results.

“I am so proud to be a part of this effort to bring so many departments together to achieve this milestone for Deborah and our patients,” said Christopher Soto, Deborah’s Laboratory Director. “We remain focused on advancing technologies that support our clinicians and improve outcomes for patients.”

Deborah Heart and Lung Center

Deborah Heart and Lung Center in Browns Mills, New Jersey, is a teaching hospital in the prevention, diagnosis, research and treatment of heart, lung and vascular diseases. Founded in 1922, Deborah has treated more than 2.3 million hearts from every corner of the United States and 87 countries. From performing the first adult and pediatric open-heart surgeries in New Jersey, to achieving the lowest open heart surgery mortality risk in the state as recognized by the New Jersey Department of Health, Deborah is consistently recognized as a leader overall and in patient care from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). It is ranked among the top hospitals in New Jersey for patient satisfaction; holds a top-tier Society of Thoracic Surgeons rating which places Deborah among the best cardiac surgery programs in North America; and is rated High Performing in five specialties, Heart Arrhythmia, Heart Attack, Heart Bypass Surgery, Heart Failure, and Pacemaker Implantation by U.S. News & World Report. 

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