Performance of Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification for the Identification of Submicroscopic Plasmodium falciparum Infection in Uganda.

Performance of Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification for the Identification of Submicroscopic Plasmodium falciparum Infection in Uganda. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2017 Oct 09;: Authors: Katrak S, Murphy M, Nayebare P, Rek J, Smith M, Arinaitwe E, Nankabirwa JI, Kamya M, Dorsey G, Rosenthal P, Greenhouse B Abstract Accurately identifying and targeting the human reservoir of malaria parasitemia is critical for malaria control, and requires a reliable and sensitive diagnostic method. Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) is increasingly used to diagnose submicroscopic parasitemia. Although most published studies report the sensitivity of LAMP compared with nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) as ≥ 80%, they have failed to use a consistent, sensitive diagnostic as a comparator. We used cross-sectional samples from children and adults in Tororo, Uganda, a region with high but declining transmission due to indoor residual spraying, to characterize the sensitivity and specificity of pan-Plasmodium LAMP for detecting submicroscopic infections. We compared LAMP results targeting a mitochondrial DNA sequence conserved in all Plasmodium species, performed on DNA extracted from dried blood spots, to those of a gold standard quantitative PCR assay targeting the var gene acidic terminal sequence of Plasmodium falciparum (varATS qPCR), performed on DNA extracted from 200 µL of whole blood. Using LAMP and varATS qPCR increased the detection o...
Source: The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene - Category: Tropical Medicine Authors: Tags: Am J Trop Med Hyg Source Type: research