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. 2021 Nov 15;11(11):2121.
doi: 10.3390/diagnostics11112121.

Evaluation of an Antibody Detecting Point of Care Test for Diagnosis of Taenia solium Cysticercosis in a Zambian Rural Community: A Prospective Diagnostic Accuracy Study

Chishimba Mubanga  1   2 , Inge Van Damme  2 , Chiara Trevisan  2   3 , 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 Gabriël  2
Affiliations

Evaluation of an Antibody Detecting Point of Care Test for Diagnosis of Taenia solium Cysticercosis in a Zambian Rural Community: A Prospective Diagnostic Accuracy Study

Chishimba Mubanga et al. Diagnostics (Basel). .

Abstract

The lack of cheap, easy-to-use, rapid diagnostic tests has led to the development of several rapid diagnostic tests for cysticercosis. The new prototype two-strip, Taenia solium point of care test (TS POC) detects antibodies against taeniosis (TS POC T) and cysticercosis (TS POC CC). This study evaluated the diagnostic performance of the TS POC CC in the Sinda district in eastern Zambia. A sample of 1254 participants was recruited and tested with the TS POC. Out of the 1249 participants with a valid TS POC result, 177 (14%) tested positive while 1072 (86%) tested negative. All individuals with a positive TS POC and a subset of negative TS POC participants were selected for serum sampling, and were subjected to the recombinant glycoprotein T24H enzyme-linked immunoelectrotransfer blot (rT24H EITB) and the serum B60/158 (serum Ag) enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (Ag ELISA). Performance characteristics were estimated using a Bayesian approach with probabilistic constraints. Based on 255 complete cases, the estimated sensitivity and specificity of the TS POC CC test were 35% (95% CI: 14-63%) and 87% (95% CI: 83-90%), respectively. The diagnostic performance needs to be improved, possibly by titrating antigen and other reagents' concentration in the strip to produce a performance similar to existing cysticercosis tests such as the rT24H EITB.

Keywords: Taenia solium; antigen ELISA; diagnosis; human cysticercosis; point of care test; rT24H EITB; screening; sensitivity; specificity.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Taenia solium TS POC kit, chase buffer, cassette and micropipette.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Flow diagram of participants to assess the diagnostic accuracy of the TS POC CC test strip (index test). (*) Number of participants who tested positive on the TS POC T test strip. In total, 13 participants tested positive using the TS POC T test strip, and all were selected to give a blood and stool sample.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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