Point-of-care Diagnosis of Trichomoniasis to Improve Linkage to Care and Combat Antimicrobial Resistance in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a significant threat to public health, particularly in regard to the control of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Amongst STIs, trichomoniasis, caused by the parasite T. vaginalis, remains one of the most common. Infection with T. vaginalis is associated with serious health consequences, including adverse pregnancy outcomes and an increased risk of transmitting HIV to sexual partners. Trichomoniasis and its complications disproportionately affect communities in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

In the absence of appropriate diagnostics, resource-limited countries rely on syndromic management, which results in inappropriate treatment and contributes to the development of resistance to nitroimidazoles, the only effective drug class available. An essential first step in mitigating the impact of trichomoniasis is the deployment of effective diagnostic tests and timely linkage to appropriate care.

The Foundation for Innovative Diagnostics (FINDx) highlights low cost, fast time to results, and ease of use and specimen collection to ensure implementation of diagnostic testing at the point-of-care in resource-limited settings. Currently available molecular diagnostic platforms, whilst highly accurate, are prohibitively complex and expensive, making nationwide introduction in LMICs unfeasible.

Building upon existing technology from ETH Zurich, the project develops a novel low-cost point-of-care diagnostic test to detect both the presence of T. vaginalis and antimicrobial resistance genes. This test will combine a novel CRISPR-Cas12 based biosensing assay with highly-scalable microfluidic architectures and has been designed around the requirements of FINDx.

Contact: Dr. Daniel Richards

Partners:

Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia
Kanyama General Hospital