A new blood test for sleeping sickness that may prove to be the first major breakthrough in the field diagnosis of tropical diseases is to be unveiled in Mali this week by a Geneva-based foundation working with a Japanese chemical company.
The test, called loop-mediated isothermal amplification, or LAMP, is a simpler way to copy tiny amounts of DNA than the standard technique, polymerase chain reaction, or P.C.R. But LAMP does not require heating and cooling, which take lots of electricity and time.
The new test, developed by Eiken Chemical Company, works on standard current but probably can be modified to run on a car battery or even solar power, said Joseph Ndung'u, head of sleeping sickness research for the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics.
The test is portable and in an hour produces a simple color-change result that can be read with the naked eye. And, Dr. Ndung'u said, it even works on blood droplets preserved for up to six weeks on filter paper, so samples can be taken in remote villages that even roads do not reach.
Diagnosis of sleeping sickness is currently made by doing a lumbar puncture and looking for parasites under a microscope, as shown above. The new test will not eliminate all spinal punctures, which are needed to see if parasites have reached the brain, but it may mean fewer of them.
LAMP tests for malaria, leishmaniasis, tuberculosis and schistosomiaisis are possible, "so we're quite excited," Dr. Ndung'u said.