Point-of- Care Diagnostics Test for Intestinal Protozoa

隐孢子虫病是一种肠道寄生虫感染，是腹泻的常见原因之一。 全世界。1993年的疫情说明了隐孢子虫用于生物恐怖主义的潜力 发生在密尔沃基的供水被这种微生物污染时，超过40万 人们在几周内就患上了腹泻。与那次疫情有关的是大规模的 住院和死亡人数。基于这种可能引发大规模疫情的可能性， 隐孢子虫已被列为B类生物防御剂。根据世界卫生组织的说法 在世界范围内，腹泻病是发病率和死亡率的第二大常见原因 在发展中国家的儿童中，也是成人发病率和死亡率的重要原因， 寄生虫是更常见的持续性和慢性腹泻的病原体，越来越多的人认识到 慢性疾病的主要原因。在寄生虫中，隐孢子虫、肠贾第鞭毛虫和 溶组织内阿米巴是腹泻最常见的致病因素。所有这些生物都可以呈现 有相似的临床表现，典型的水样腹泻，但在最佳诊断方面有所不同 方法，更重要的是，治疗。该项目的长期目标是开发一种简单、 一种廉价的测试，可以检测出所有主要的引起腹泻的原生动物寄生虫，可以在 即使在发展中国家也是如此。该项目的具体目标是：具体目标1： 优化可用于医疗保健点的廉价、灵敏和特异的诊断测试 隐孢子虫病的诊断。特异性目标2：建立贾第鞭毛虫、E. 溶组织型、环状/孢子型和/孢子型。具体目标3：评估其敏感性和特异性 这些化验使用的粪便样本是在腹泻疾病的前瞻性研究中获得的。至 为了实现这些目标，我们组建了一支跨学科的团队，在护理点方面拥有成熟的专业知识 传染病的检测。怀特博士在UTMB的实验室带来了肠道寄生虫的专业知识，临床 传染病和寄生虫分子生物学，并与 腹泻病。莱斯大学生物工程系理查兹-科尔图姆博士的实验室， 专注于将微制造和纳米技术应用于全球健康问题，并已 在微型光学传感器和使用靶向纳米颗粒进行分子诊断方面的经验。 该项目的长期目标将是结合类似的技术来开发一种简单、廉价的 可以检测出所有可以在看护点进行的主要引起腹泻的原生动物寄生虫的测试， 即使在发展中国家也是如此。

Cryptosporidiosis is an intestinal parasitic infection that is emerging as a common cause of diarrhea worldwide. The potential for use of Cryptosporidium in bioterrorism is illustrated by the 1993 epidemic that occurred when the Milwaukee water supply became contaminated with the organism and over 400,000 people became ill with diarrhea within a period of a few weeks. Associated with that outbreak were large numbers of hospitalizations and deaths. Based on this potential to cause large-scale epidemics, Cryptosporidium has been classified as a Class B agent for biodefense. According to the World Health Organization, diarrheal diseases are the second most common cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide among children in developing countries and also an important cause of morbidity and mortality in adults, Parasites are more common agents of persistent and chronic diarrhea, which are increasingly recognized as major causes of chronic morbidity. Among the parasites Cryptosporidium, Giardia intestinalis, and Entamoeba histolytica are the most commonly associated with diarrhea. All of these organisms can present with a similar clinical picture, typically with watery diarrhea, yet they differ in terms of optimal diagnostic methods and, more importantly, treatment. The long-range goal for the project is to develop a simple, inexpensive test that can detect all the major diarrhea-causing protozoan parasites that can be performed at the point-of-care, even in developing countries. The specific aims of this project are: Specific aim 1: To optimize an inexpensive, sensitive and specific diagnostic test that can be used for point-of-care diagnosis of Cryptosporidiosis. Specific aim 2: To develop detection methods for Giardia, E. histolytica, Cyc/ospora, and /sospora. Specific aim 3: To assess the sensitivity and specificity of these assays using stools samples obtained in prospective studies of diarrheal disease. To accomplish these goals, we have assembled an interdisciplinary team with proven expertise in point-of-care detection of infectious disease. Dr White's laboratory at UTMB brings expertise in intestinal parasites, clinical infectious diseases and parasite molecular biology and has ongoing collaborations with field studies of diarrheal disease. Dr. Richards-Kortum's Laboratory, at the Department of Bioengineering at Rice University, has focused on applying microfabrication and nanotechnologies to global health problems and has experience in both micro-optical sensors and the use of targeted nanoparticles for molecular diagnostics. The long-range goal for the project will be to incorporate similar techniques to develop a simple, inexpensive test that can detect all the major diarrhea-causing protozoan parasites that can be performed at the point-ofcare, even in developing countries.