Novel Technologies for the Diagnosis of Influenza and Other Infectious Diseases at the Point-of-Care.

该项目旨在开发诊断流感和其他传染病的新技术。季节性流感每年感染5-20%的人口，导致全球300万严重病例和25万-50万人死亡。此外，在世界各地迅速蔓延并造成毁灭性后果的新的大流行病毒株的风险正在增加。目前迫切需要改进流感快速诊断的检测方法，以改善患者管理，优化抗病毒药物的使用，并遏制病毒的传播。虽然有有效和准确的（RT-PCR）流感诊断测试，但它们需要复杂的硬件设备和中心医院实验室中训练有素的用户。因此，它们的使用仅限于追踪病毒的传播并在一些住院患者中确认诊断。相比之下，在鼻拭子中检测流感抗原的快速免疫分析法使用方便、快速。它们在美国得到了广泛的应用，但由于灵敏度低，导致漏诊。迫切需要将RT-PCR检测的性能与快速免疫测定的速度、可用性和（低）成本结合起来。虽然许多人都专注于技术复杂的硬件解决方案来实现这一目标，但该项目旨在开发一种新颖、简单的核酸（例如DNA）检测方法，并利用它来进行流感测试，以便将来集成到单一用途的即时诊断设备中。该方法是RT-PCR的简单替代方法，不需要复杂的设备。它有可能使未经培训的用户使用简单的手持设备进行核酸检测，类似于侧流免疫测定，例如妊娠检测试剂盒，以便在保健和社区设施中广泛采用，以满足流感诊断的临床和公共卫生潜力。

This project aims to develop new technologies for the diagnosis of influenza and other infectious diseases. Seasonal flu infects 5-20% of the population each year, leading to >3 million serious cases and 250,000-500,000 deaths worldwide. In addition, the risk of new pandemic strains that spread rapidly across the World with devastating consequences is increasing. There is an urgent need for improved tests for the rapid diagnosis of influenza to improve patient management, optimise use of antiviral drugs and combat spread of the virus.Whilst effective and accurate (RT-PCR) flu diagnostic tests are available, they require complex hardware equipment and trained users in central hospital labs. As a result, their use is limited to tracking the spread of the virus and confirming diagnosis in some hospitalised patients. In contrast, rapid immunoassays, which detect flu antigens in nasal swabs, are easy to use and fast. They have achieved widespread adoption in the US, but are hampered by poor sensitivity, leading to missed diagnoses. There is a critical need to combine the performance of RT-PCR tests with the speed, usability and (low) cost of rapid immunoassays. Whilst many are focussing on technologically complex hardware solutions to achieve this goal, this project seeks to develop a novel, simple method of nucleic acid (e.g. DNA) detection and use it to produce a flu test that is amenable to future integration into a single use, point-of-care diagnostic device.The method is a simple alternative to RT-PCR without the need for complex equipment. It has the potential to enable nucleic acid tests to be performed by untrained users with simple, handheld devices, analogous to lateral flow immunoassays, e.g. pregnancy testing kits, in order to achieve widespread adoption in healthcare and community facilities to meet the clinical and public health potential of flu diagnostics.