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Media Centre > News > Newsletters >
Issue 9 |
Taking molecular diagnostics to the treatment center
Sample tubes floating in warm water - a simple water bath at constant temperature is adequate for running a LAMP reaction.
FIND and partners are intensifying efforts to develop a simplified DNA amplification test that allows rapid
detection of parasites with high accuracy. One of the reasons loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP)
of trypanosome DNA is becoming the most exciting new addition to the diagnostic tools is the fact that blood can
be used as the starting material for the amplification reaction, and the test can be used easily in any endemic country
laboratory, by technicians with minimal experience.
During the past year, feasibility studies carried out by Murdoch and Obihiro Universities in collaboration with
research centers in endemic countries have confirmed that this new molecular technique is highly sensitive and specific.
This was further verified in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya, and has led FIND and partners to initiate the process of developing
LAMP into a kit, soon to be available at the microscopy center level of health services in endemic countries.
We expect this to be the first, lowcost molecular test that will revolutionize diagnosis of HAT in the very near
future.
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