An innovative and user-friendly scoring system for standardised quantitative interpretation of the urine-based point-of-care strip test (POC-CCA) for the diagnosis of intestinal schistosomiasis- a proof-of-concept study.

An innovative and user-friendly scoring system for standardised quantitative interpretation of the urine-based point-of-care strip test (POC-CCA) for the diagnosis of intestinal schistosomiasis- a proof-of-concept study. Acta Trop. 2019 Aug 16;:105150 Authors: Casacuberta-Partal M, Hoekstra PT, Kornelis D, van Lieshout L, van Dam GJ Abstract The point-of-care strip assay for the detection of the schistosome Circulating Cathodic Antigen (POC-CCA) in urine has shown to be a user-friendly and sensitive alternative to stool microscopy for the diagnosis of Schistosoma mansoni infections. However, visual scoring of the test is by definition observer dependent and leads to discussion about the qualitative interpretation, in particular in low intensity infections when test lines tend to be weak. In order to standardise visual scoring, an innovative approach for semi-quantitative interpretation of the POC-CCA cassettes, called G-scores, was developed and evaluated. Urines (n=110) from a S. mansoni endemic area were used to evaluate this new approach. Test lines of the POC-CCA were visually compared against the G-scores, i.e. a series of artificial cassettes containing inkjet-printed strips of different intensities in order to grade the POC-CCA test line on a scale of 1 to 10. A significant positive correlation (0.660, p<0.001) was observed between G-scores and eggs per gram of faeces. This proof-of-concept study demonstrates the usefulness...
Source: Acta Tropica - Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Tags: Acta Trop Source Type: research