Newcastle University, Kings Rd, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK.
Fera Science Ltd, Sand Hutton, York, YO41 1L, UK.
Exp Parasitol. 2020 Oct;217:107960. doi: 10.1016/j.exppara.2020.107960. Epub 2020 Aug 2.
Guinea worm Dracunculus medinensis causes debilitating disease in people and is subject to an ongoing global eradication programme. Research and controls are constrained by a lack of diagnostic tools. We developed a specific and sensitive LAMP method for detecting D. medinensis larval DNA in copepod vectors. We were able to detect a single larva in a background of field-collected copepods. This method could form the basis of a "pond-side test" for detecting potential sources of Guinea worm infection in the environment, in copepods, including in the guts of fish as potential transport hosts, enabling research, surveillance and targeting of control measures. The key constraint on the utility of this assay as a field diagnostic, is a lack of knowledge of variation in the temporal and spatial distribution of D. medinensis larvae in copepods in water bodies in the affected areas and how best to sample copepods to obtain a reliable diagnostic sample. These fundamental knowledge gaps could readily be addressed with field collections of samples across areas experiencing a range of worm infection frequencies, coupled with field and laboratory analyses using LAMP and PCR.
麦地那龙线虫 Dracunculus medinensis 可引起人体衰弱性疾病，目前正在实施全球根除计划。由于缺乏诊断工具，研究和防控受到限制。我们开发了一种针对节肢动物copepod 媒介中麦地那龙线虫幼虫 DNA 的特异性和高灵敏度的 LAMP 方法。我们能够在背景中检测到单个幼虫。该方法可作为“池塘边检测”的基础，用于检测环境中潜在的麦地那龙线虫感染源，包括鱼类肠道等潜在的运输宿主，从而能够进行研究、监测和有针对性地采取防控措施。该检测方法作为一种现场诊断方法的主要限制是，缺乏对受影响地区水体中 copepod 中麦地那龙线虫幼虫的时空分布以及如何最佳采集 copepod 以获得可靠诊断样本的了解。通过在不同麦地那龙线虫感染频率地区进行样本的实地采集，结合使用 LAMP 和 PCR 的现场和实验室分析，可以很容易地解决这些基本的知识空白。
