Towards a versatile and economic Chagas Disease point-of-care testing system, by integrating loop-mediated isothermal amplification and contactless/label-free conductivity detection.

• Published in: PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases
• Main Authors: Federico Figueredo, Fabiana Stolowicz, Adrián Vojnov, Wendell K T Coltro, Luciana Larocca, Carolina Carrillo, Eduardo Cortón
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021
• Subjects: Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Public aspects of medicine; RA1-1270; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0009406; https://doaj.org/article/0b4bb77afbeb4eccae0ea3fd94a4f18a

Rapid diagnosis by using small, simple, and portable devices could represent one of the best strategies to limit the damage and contain the spread of viral, bacterial or protozoa diseases, principally when they can be transmitted by air and are highly contagious, as some respiratory viruses are. The presence of antibodies in blood or serum samples is not the best option for deciding when a person must be quarantined to stop transmission of disease, given that cured patients have antibodies, so the best diagnosis methods rely on the use of nucleic acid amplification procedures. Here we present a very simple device and detection principle, based on paper discs coupled to contactless conductivity (C4D) sensors, can provide fast and easy diagnostics that are needed when an epidemic outbreak develops. The paper device presented here solves one of the main drawbacks that nucleic acid amplification tests have when they are performed outside of central laboratories. As the device is sealed before amplification and integrally disposed in this way, amplimers release cannot occur, allowing repetitive testing in the physician's practice, ambulances, or other places that are not prepared to avoid cross-contamination of new samples. The use of very low volume samples allows efficient reagent use and the development of low cost, simple, and disposable point-of-care diagnostic systems.