The Value of Syndromic Testing for Gastroenteritis

The patient was a healthy 26-year-old with no chronic conditions. He arrived at the ER complaining of acute diarrhea and with mild dehydration. He received an abdominal CT scan and clinicians considered the possibility of irritable bowel syndrome, Meckel diverticulum, or Chrohn’s disease.

The answer turned out to be a co-infection of Salmonella, Plesiomonas, and norovirus, all of which could have been discovered earlier, although it would have been difficult and time-consuming to identify all three pathogens with traditional testing methods.