ALMOST half a million rapid diagnostic tests developed from research at a university will be donated with the aim of helping eliminate the disease known as African sleeping sickness.
The Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) have announced that 450,000 rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) will be donated by global healthcare company Abbott to scale up testing for sleeping sickness.
Research at the University of Dundee, in collaboration with the University of Cambridge, led to the development of the BIOLINE HAT 2.0 test, which will accelerate the efficiency of testing.
Sleeping sickness, or Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT), is caused by parasites transmitted by tsetse flies in sub-Saharan Africa and is generally fatal if left untreated.
The BIOLINE HAT 2.0 test costs US $0.50 each and requires no specialised equipment to diagnose sleeping sickness from a pinprick of blood.
This provides the same level of accuracy as the previous test in a more robust production format suitable for use even in remote, resource-poor settings.
Efforts to control the disease rely on effective diagnosis to enable early treatment, prevention of further transmission, and a reduction in the density of tsetse flies.
Rapid diagnostic tests are critical for both quickly identifying infected individuals for treatment and for active surveillance to take rapid action if any potential reemergence occurs in areas of previous disease elimination.
Professor Ferguson, Regius Professor of Life Sciences, said, “This is a potentially devastating disease mostly affecting rural populations.
“Early diagnosis is key to avoid the disease progressing to the second stage whereby the parasites cross the blood-brain barrier to infect the central nervous system.
“We are so glad to see our original research adopted through partnership with FIND being distributed to those who need it most and making a real difference.
“Working with FIND to put this research into action is an excellent example of institutions working in collaboration to achieve great things.”
FIND will distribute 150,000 tests to start, primarily as part of the Trypa-NO! partnership, which includes FIND, the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.
The partnership is supporting elimination programmes in five countries – Chad, Guinea, Ivory Coast, South Sudan and Uganda – in collaboration with national governments.
Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)are expected to soon be included in the partnership.
In March 2021, Ivory Coast was the latest country to eliminate sleeping sickness as a public health problem.
