Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Nov 4;11(11):2039.
doi: 10.3390/diagnostics11112039.

Challenges Encountered When Evaluating an Antibody-Detecting Point-of-Care Test for Taeniosis in an Endemic Community in Zambia: A Prospective Diagnostic Accuracy Study

Chishimba Mubanga  1   2 , Chiara Trevisan  2   3 , Inge Van Damme  2 , Veronika Schmidt  4   5 , Isaac K Phiri  1 , Gideon Zulu  1   6 , John Noh  7 , Sukwan Handali  7 , Richard Mambo  1   6 , Mwelwa Chembensofu  1 , Maxwell Masuku  1 , Dries Reynders  8 , Famke Jansen  3 , Emmanuel Bottieau  9 , Pascal Magnussen  10 , Andrea S Winkler  4   5 , Pierre Dorny  3 , Kabemba E Mwape  1 , Sarah Gabriel  2
Affiliations

Challenges Encountered When Evaluating an Antibody-Detecting Point-of-Care Test for Taeniosis in an Endemic Community in Zambia: A Prospective Diagnostic Accuracy Study

Chishimba Mubanga et al. Diagnostics (Basel). .

Abstract

Taenia solium taeniosis diagnosis is challenging because current tests perform sub-optimally and/or are expensive, require sophisticated equipment, infrastructure and trained manpower, and therefore are not community deployable. A recently-developed, multi-strip, T. solium point-of-care test (TS POC) for simultaneous detection of tapeworm (TS POC T) and cysticercus (TS POC CC) human antibodies was evaluated for diagnostic accuracy on consecutively recruited community participants in Sinda district, Zambia. All participants were tested using the TS POC test. All test-positives and 20% of the test-negative participants were invited to give a blood and stool sample for reference testing. Three different reference tests were used for taeniosis diagnosis: recombinant rES33 enzyme-linked immunoelectrotransfer blot (rES33 EITB), copro PCR and copro Ag ELISA. Bayesian analysis with probabilistic constraints was used to estimate sensitivity and specificity. In total, 1254 participants were tested with the TS POC test, of whom 13 tested positive using the TS POC T. Based on 161 participants with complete data, the estimated sensitivity and specificity for the TS POC T test were 38% (95% CI: 5-93%) and 99% (95% CI: 98-100%), respectively. The challenge of highly variable inter-assay performance is highlighted. We recommend either increasing the sensitivity or redesigning the test.

Keywords: Taenia solium; copro Ag ELISA; copro PCR; diagnosis; point of care test; rES33 EITB; sensitivity; specificity; taeniosis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Study design flow.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Study area, Sinda district (maroon circle), Eastern province, Zambia.
Figure 3
Figure 3
(A) Micropipette, (B) Chase buffer, (C,D), TS POC cassettes with (C) taeniosis (TST) negative and cysticercosis (TSCC) positive and (D) double positive.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Flow diagram showing community recruitment, TS POC T and reference testing.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. WHO The World Health Organization 2030 Goals for Taenia Solium: Insights and Perspectives from Transmission Dynamics Modelling. Gates Open Res. 2019;3:1546. doi: 10.12688/gatesopenres.13068.1. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Sarti E., Schantz P.M., Avila G., Ambrosio J., Medina-Santillán R., Flisser A. Mass Treatment against Human Taeniasis for the Control of Cysticercosis: A Population-Based Intervention Study. Trans. R. Soc. Trop. Med. Hyg. 2000;94:85–89. doi: 10.1016/S0035-9203(00)90451-6. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Praet N., Verweij J.J., Mwape K.E., Phiri I.K., Muma J.B., Zulu G., van Lieshout L., Rodriguez-Hidalgo R., Benitez-Ortiz W., Dorny P., et al. Bayesian Modelling to Estimate the Test Characteristics of Coprology, Coproantigen ELISA and a Novel Real-Time PCR for the Diagnosis of Taeniasis. Trop. Med. Int. Heal. 2013;18:608–614. doi: 10.1111/tmi.12089. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Mwape K.E., Gabriël S. The Parasitological, Immunological, and Molecular Diagnosis of Human Taeniasis with Special Emphasis on Taenia Solium Taeniasis. Curr. Trop. Med. Rep. 2014;1:173–180. doi: 10.1007/s40475-014-0028-5. - DOI
    1. Raoul F., Li T., Sako Y., Chen X., Long C., Yanagida T., Wu Y., Nakao M., Okamoto M., Craig P.S., et al. Advances in Diagnosis and Spatial Analysis of Cysticercosis and Taeniasis. Parasitology. 2013;140:1578–1588. doi: 10.1017/S0031182013001303. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources