New CRISPR test could speed up sepsis diagnosis and save lives

Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.

Inclusion Criteria: * Age ≥ 18 years, length of stay in the ICU ≤ 24 hours; * Meets the Sepsis-3.0 diagnostic criteria (an increase in SOFA score of ≥2 points from baseline, and evidence of infection); * Clinically suspected sepsis or septic shock; the pathogen is unknown; the clinical plan is to collect sterile or suitable specimens, such as blood, respiratory specimens, cerebrospinal fluid, and ascites, for microbiological testing; * Expected ICU stay of ≥48 hours and ability to complete at least 28 days of clinical follow-up; * A written informed consent form signed by the patient or their legally authorized representative; Exclusion Criteria: * At the time of admission, the patient had already received a definitive pathogen diagnosis (based on microbiological culture, reliable molecular testing, or serological evidence), and targeted antimicrobial therapy against that pathogen had been initiated for more than 48 hours; * Vital signs are extremely unstable; death is expected within 24 hours; * Patients with severe primary immunodeficiency (e.g., AIDS, active hematologic malignancies, post-transplantation of solid organs or hematopoietic stem cells, or long-term use of high-dose glucocorticoids \[prednisone ≥ 20 mg/day or equivalent dose for more than 4 weeks\] or other potent immunosuppressants); * Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding; * The patient or their authorized representative has expressly refused to undergo any pathogen testing; * It is not possible to obtain a suitable specimen for testing due to anatomical, physiological, or technical reasons; * The patient is currently participating in another interventional clinical trial that may interfere with the assessment of the primary outcome of this study; * The patient or their authorized representative has declined to participate in this study;