![[Lesotho] Volunteers use rapid test kits for the Know Your Status campaign. [Date picture taken: 10/13/2006]](https://assets.thenewhumanitarian.org/s3fs-public/styles/responsive_large_2x/public/images/200610204.jpg.webp?itok=z9Y1fHXH "Seuls neuf des 16 centres CDV de la province nord-orientale fonctionnent")
Millions of people in tropical climates are at risk of picking up deadly parasites, but accurate diagnosis is almost impossible in the locations where they strike: remote areas with no microscopes or health workers.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), almost three million people will be infected with one of the following illnesses this year: Chagas disease, found primarily in the Americas; African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness), mainly in sub-Saharan Africa; and leishmaniasis, mostly in Southeast Asia, East Africa and Brazil.
WHO notes that there are few accurate, low-technology, affordable ways to detect these diseases, and only a fraction of suspected cases are reported.
Left untreated, all three are fatal, and can cause organ swelling, leprosy-like open skin ulcers, and a breakdown in the central nervous system, before death.
Mary Tanga, a scientist at the California-based research and technology group, SRI International, told IRIN that US researchers were developing what they hoped would become a "dipstick" for diagnosing all these diseases, which are caused by the same family of parasites.
The objective is to be able to dip a strip into a drop of blood, expose it to ultraviolet light, and have a diagnosis in less than one hour - a quick, single test costing a few US cents per test.
In initial experiments, dyes have been able to pick up a parasite "biomarker" – a substance indicating the parasite is present – that glows under a hand-held lamp.
Evaluations of tests for Chagas disease, produced by companies in Latin America, are underway in Brazil.
The "rk39" dipstick test for leishmaniasis has a 24-percent accuracy rate, according to a recent independent evaluation.
The challenge with sleeping sickness has been to create a test that works as well in the field as in the lab. "Despite important efforts from many quarters, filling this gap is not easy ... finding an ideal biomarker, which is easy to detect, sensitive and specific [an accurate indicator of the disease] is ... complicated," Pere Simarro, the head of WHO's African trypanosomiasis programme, told IRIN.
Tanga said clinical trials – widespread testing in real life conditions – for the three-in-one dipstick detector should begin in five years.
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According to the World Health Organization (WHO), almost three million people will be infected with one of the following illnesses this year: Chagas disease, found primarily in the Americas; African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness), mainly in sub-Saharan Africa; and leishmaniasis, mostly in Southeast Asia, East Africa and Brazil.
WHO notes that there are few accurate, low-technology, affordable ways to detect these diseases, and only a fraction of suspected cases are reported.
Left untreated, all three are fatal, and can cause organ swelling, leprosy-like open skin ulcers, and a breakdown in the central nervous system, before death.
Mary Tanga, a scientist at the California-based research and technology group, SRI International, told IRIN that US researchers were developing what they hoped would become a "dipstick" for diagnosing all these diseases, which are caused by the same family of parasites.
The objective is to be able to dip a strip into a drop of blood, expose it to ultraviolet light, and have a diagnosis in less than one hour - a quick, single test costing a few US cents per test.
In initial experiments, dyes have been able to pick up a parasite "biomarker" – a substance indicating the parasite is present – that glows under a hand-held lamp.
Evaluations of tests for Chagas disease, produced by companies in Latin America, are underway in Brazil.
The "rk39" dipstick test for leishmaniasis has a 24-percent accuracy rate, according to a recent independent evaluation.
The challenge with sleeping sickness has been to create a test that works as well in the field as in the lab. "Despite important efforts from many quarters, filling this gap is not easy ... finding an ideal biomarker, which is easy to detect, sensitive and specific [an accurate indicator of the disease] is ... complicated," Pere Simarro, the head of WHO's African trypanosomiasis programme, told IRIN.
Tanga said clinical trials – widespread testing in real life conditions – for the three-in-one dipstick detector should begin in five years.
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This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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