Category: Diseases, Syndromes and Conditions

Categories : Diseases, Syndromes and ConditionsTags :

Key Cellular Defence Functions Found for Heparanase

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A recent study has shown that there is a poorly understood protein, heparanase (HPSE), that is in fact a key regulator of cellular innate defence systems. High levels of HPSE are linked to cancer metastasis. 

Cellular innate defence systems are an array of built-in mechanisms that are common to species throughout evolution. These can be spurred into action by the presence of pathogens or environmental toxins and dysfunctional cells that may build up over time in the body. A clearer understanding of the interplay between these different processes has the potential to open up a whole new range of multi-target drugs to treat a wide range of conditions and diseases.

Researchers from the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) used a systems approach to track changes in important components in cells and mice that have been genetically engineered to lack HPSE.

In this collaborative multidisciplinary study, Agelidis and coauthors for the first time demonstrated that HPSE is a mediator for antiviral immunity, proliferative signals and cell death.

“HPSE has been long known to drive late-stage inflammatory diseases yet it was once thought that this was primarily due to enzymatic activity of the protein breaking down heparan sulfate, a sugar molecule present in chains on the surface of virtually all cells,” Agelidis said.

While their study largely focussed on mechanisms of pathogenesis of herpes simplex virus (HSV-1), these findings hold a range of implications for treating diseases that involve the dysregulation of HPSE, including cancer, atherosclerosis and autoimmune disorders.

Source: Medical Xpress

Journal information: Alex Agelidis et al, Disruption of innate defense responses by endoglycosidase HPSE promotes cell survival, JCI Insight (2021). DOI: 10.1172/jci.insight.144255

Categories : Diseases, Syndromes and Conditions GeneticsTags :

Diphtheria Resurfacing as a Threat As it Evolves Antibiotic Resistance

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Diphtheria is resurfacing as a threat worldwide as it evolves antibiotic resistance and could escape vaccine containment, scientists warn.

Diphtheria cases in recent years have doubled what they were in previous decades, to 16 651 cases in 2018. Although babies are vaccinated against it in high-income countries, there is less coverage in middle- and low-income countries.

Diphtheria is mainly caused by Corynebacterium diphtheriae, spread by coughs and sneezes or close contact with the infected. Usually, the bacteria cause acute infections, driven by the diphtheria toxin—the main target of the vaccine. However, non-toxigenic C. diphtheria can also cause disease.

A team of researchers from the UK and India used genomics to map infections, including a subset from India, where more than half of the globally reported cases occurred in 2018.

Analysing the genomes of 61 bacteria isolated from patients and combining these with 441 publicly available genomes, the researchers were then able to understand how they spread. They also used this information to assess the presence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes and assess toxin variation.

The researchers found clusters to genetically-similar bacteria isolated from different continents, most commonly Asia and Europe. This indicates that C. diphtheriae has been travelling with humans as they spread across the planet.

The diphtheria toxin ch is encoded by the tox gene, for which the researchers found 18 different variations, of which several had the potential to change the structure of the toxin.

Professor Gordon Dougan from the Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology and Infectious Disease (CITIID) said: “The diphtheria vaccine is designed to neutralise the toxin, so any genetic variants that change the toxin’s structure could have an impact on how effective the vaccine is. While our data doesn’t suggest the currently used vaccine will be ineffective, the fact that we are seeing an ever-increasing diversity of tox variants suggests that the vaccine, and treatments that target the toxin, need to be appraised on a regular basis.”

First author Robert Will, a PhD student at CITIID, said: “The C. diphtheriae genome is complex and incredibly diverse. It’s acquiring resistance to antibiotics that are not even clinically used in the treatment of diphtheria. There must be other factors at play, such as asymptomatic infection and exposure to a plethora of antibiotics meant for treating other diseases.”

Erythromycin and penicillin are commonly recommended to treat early-stage diphtheria, although there are other classes capable of it. Variants resistant to six of these classes in isolates from the 2010s were identified by the team.

Study leader Dr Ankur Mutreja from CITIID, said: “It’s more important than ever that we understand how diphtheria is evolving and spreading. Genome sequencing gives us a powerful tool for observing this in real time, allowing public health agencies to take action before it’s too late.
“We mustn’t take our eye off the ball with diphtheria, otherwise we risk it becoming a major global threat again, potentially in a modified, better adapted, form.”

Source: Medical Xpress

Journal information: Will, RC et al. Spatiotemporal persistence of multiple, diverse clades and toxins of Corynebacterium diphtheria. Nat Comms; 8 Mar 2021; DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-21870-5

Categories : Diseases, Syndromes and Conditions Immune SystemTags :

New Bacteria-based Atopic Dermatitis Treatment Proves Effective

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A skin bacteria-based treatment for atopic dermatitis (AD) was successful in clinical trials, with no serious adverse effects and indications that it reduces eczema symptoms as well.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common, chronic skin disorder which can have great impacts on the lives of sufferers. The disorder seems to result from the complex interplay between the skin, environmental effects and the immune system. Treatment involves a multifaceted approach that involves education, optimal skin care practices, anti-inflammatory treatment with topical corticosteroids and/or topical calcineurin inhibitors, the management of pruritus, and the treatment of skin infections. Severe flare-ups or more difficult-to-control disease may be treated with systemic immunosuppressive agents. Topical corticosteroids are the first-line treatment of choice, and seem to be prophylactic against flareups.

AD is associated with S. aureus colonisation, which induces a proteolytic breakdown of the epidermal barrier and dermal immune dysregulation. Inflammation results in further dysregulation of the skin microbial system. Commensal, coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) were observed to produce bacteriocins which inhibit bacteria such as S. aureus, and these were not seen in the skin of most patients with AD. They hypothesised that reintroduction of CoNS would improve AD in patients.

Patients treated with MSB-0221, which incorporated the naturally occurring skin bacteria S. hominis (ShA9), had fewer AD-related adverse events (AEs) as compared with patients treated with a topical placebo, reported Richard L Gallo, MD, PhD, of the University of California San Diego and co-founder of the company developing MSB-0221.

“Besides its effect on decreasing the redness and itch in a subset of patients, and dramatically and rapidly decreasing the colonisation by Staph aureus, one of the unique aspects of this is that it’s specific for this organism,” said Dr Gallo. “It was not detrimental to other members of the microbiome that could help restore balance.”

Applying MSB-0221 to 54 adults, they found a reduction in S. Areus, which was associated with a significant decrease in AD symptoms compared to placebo.

The next step would be a larger, 150 patient clinical trial over 12 weeks.

“We don’t fully understand all of the ramifications, but there seems to be at least a subset of patients with atopic dermatitis whose disease is influenced and exacerbated by certain bacteria, such as Staph aureus,” said Bruce Brod, MD, of the University of Pennsylvania. “There is still sort of a chicken-and-egg aspect to the relationship. Did the skin inflammation come first or the Staph aureus?“

“This is a proof-of-concept study that provides some evidence that shifting the balance of another bacteria that’s not pathogenic might have some therapeutic benefit in some patients with atopic dermatitis,” he added. “It provides support for larger studies looking at safe bacteria to shift the flora to a more favourable environment. At this point, it’s just another piece of a puzzle that could one day lead to different therapies. It’s probably not the whole picture, but in some patients, it may play a significant role.”

Source: MedPage Today

Journal information: Nakatsuji T, et al “Development of a human skin commensal microbe for bacteriotherapy of atopic dermatitis and use in a phase I randomized clinical trial” Nature Med 2021; DOI: 10.1038/s41591-021-01256-2.

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Bacteria in Cystic Fibrosis Use Slimy Shield to Ward off Drugs

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Research has revealed that a common bacteria found in the lungs of those with cystic fibrosis produces a slime that acts as a defence against a variety of therapeutic drugs.

Dr Laura Jennings, a research assistant professor in UM’s Division of Biological Sciences and an affiliate with the University’s Center for Translational Medicine, headed the research.

A life threatening-condition caused by a genetic mutation, cystic fibrosis causes persistent lung infections and gradually reduces a person’s breathing capacity. A common strain of bacteria, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, often thrives in the lungs of people with cystic fibrosis,  and when a P. aeruginosa infection is established, it can be extremely hard to remove.
The research showed that stubborn bacteria dwelling in the lungs of cystic fibrosis patients produce a carbohydrate slime, which both shields them against antibiotics and also mucus-reducing drugs.

“We found the first direct evidence that these carbohydrates are produced at the sites of infection,” Dr Jennings said. “We showed that one of the carbohydrates, called Pel, sticks to extracellular DNA, which is abundant in the thick mucus secretions prominent in cystic fibrosis lungs.

“This interaction makes a slimy protective layer around the bacteria, making them harder to kill,” she said. “As such, it reduces the pathogen’s susceptibility to antibiotics and drugs aimed at reducing the thickness of airway mucus by digesting DNA.”

She explained that the research supports a theory that these carbohydrates also support the aggregation of these bacteria in the lungs of cystic fibrosis patients.

“This is important because we know that physically breaking up bacterial aggregates can restore bacterial susceptibility to killing with antibiotics and cells of the immune system,” Jennings said. “Therefore, understanding the mechanisms that promote bacterial aggregation may facilitate new therapeutic approaches aimed at digesting the carbohydrates holding bacterial cells together.”

Source: Medical Xpress

Journal information: Laura K. Jennings et al. Pseudomonas aeruginosa aggregates in cystic fibrosis sputum produce exopolysaccharides that likely impede current therapies, Cell Reports (2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2021.108782

Categories : Diseases, Syndromes and Conditions Medical Research & TechnologyTags :

Researchers Study Enzyme Processes for New Drugs

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Traditional discovery has produced drugs that effectively target proteins directly involved with disease, but options are starting to run out and researchers are looking to more complex and obscure interactions for drug targets.

So far, drug discovery has used the ‘small molecule’ approach, where a specific protein is targetted in a cancer cell to shut it down and bring down the cancer cell as a whole. Up until this point, traditional drugs have only been able to target proteins that are involved in the disease that also have activities that are amenable to the small molecule approach, leaving a vast number of proteins unaddressed. Many of these other proteins may be involved in disease processes behind the scenes.

“It’s starting to get to the point where we’ve kind of taken traditional drug discovery as far as we can, and we really need something new,” explained University of Nevada, Las Vegas biochemist Gary Kleiger.

“Cancer cells are clever,” Kleiger said. “They can evolve very, very quickly. So, a drug might be working at first—targeting an enzyme and telling that enzyme, ‘stop doing your activity,’ which can stop the cancer cells from growing. Those cancer cells appear to lie dormant, but all the while there are still little things that happen that eventually enable those cancer cells to bypass that drug.” Therefore, in order to stay ahead of cancer’s capacity to evolve drug resistance, it is necessary to target many additional disease-causing proteins, and thus, limiting the landscape of druggable proteins is a serious disadvantage.

The new approach by investigated by Kleiger and collaborators uses a family of human enzymes called ubiquitin ligases found in human cells. Of about 20 000 known proteins in the human body, some 5-10% are enzymes.

Kleiger’s team uses cutting edge cryo electron microscopes that can image the ubiquitin ligases when they’re at work. To test their hypotheses, Kleiger and collaborators measure the activity of ‘mutated’ enzymes that should now be defective in their activities.

Kleiger compared the process to how a 50 000 year old society might view a bicycle. They could identify its purpose and general properties, but could test the importance of a certain gear; if it was bent, the bicycle would no longer function. “We can do that at the molecular level with the enzymes,” he said.

Source: Medical Xpress

Journal information: Daniel Horn-Ghetko et al, Ubiquitin ligation to F-box protein targets by SCF–RBR E3–E3 super-assembly, Nature (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03197-9

Categories : Diseases, Syndromes and Conditions Expert OpinionTags :

Microbes Develop Resistance to Disinfectant Too, Warns UFS Professor

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News-Medical.Net interviewed Professor Robert Bragg of the University of the Free State on the topic of pathogens, particularly bacteria, developing resistance to common disinfectants.

Professor Robert Bragg said that the control of diseases rests on three pillars: 1) vaccinations and vaccines, 2) treatment options (such as antibiotics for bacterial diseases), and 3) biosecurity.

Proff Brage explained that 10 to 15 years ago, there was an assumption that bacteria would not evolve resistance against disinfectants, but the COVID pandemic prompted a rethink. Now, disinfectant resistance is being looked at in the same light as antibiotic resistance. Biosecurity, he said, is ensuring that individuals do not come into contact with the pathogens in the first place. This is easily seen in the COVID pandemic, where face masks are worn (with a protection against contracting the disease of up to 70%), social distancing is enforced and hands and surfaces are sanitised. Though Prof Bragg’s main area of research is not antibiotic resistance, he notes that, “There are resistance mechanisms that are shared between antibiotics and disinfectants and we are looking at how these mechanisms increase resistance to disinfectants.” 

The protection of antibiotics is something taken for granted, but although mostly easily treatable (for now), bacteria can spread much faster than viruses, which require cells to reproduce in and whose re[plication rate is measured in days. “A common well-known bacterium such as Escherichia coli has a doubling time of around 20 min under ideal conditions. In other words, it only takes just 20 minutes for a population of E. coli to go from 1 million to 2 million and another 20 mins to reach 4 million, and so on,” Prof Bragg said. In the post-antibiotic era, there would be some treatment options such as bacteriophages, but for livestock the best protection would be biosecurity. However, disinfectant resistance would reduce the effectiveness of that option.

His research team has conducted a number of studies into the mechanisms of bacterial disinfectant resistance. “My research team has been working on various aspects of efficacy and resistance to disinfectants for quite some time and we have various projects that are currently underway,” he said. “Recently we identified a highly resistant strain of a Serratia species of bacteria. This strain was substantially more resistant to many different disinfectants than the reference strain. This great difference in the levels of susceptibility has allowed us to investigate various possible research mechanisms and also to look for possible novel resistance mechanisms.”

One of his team’s discoveries was that this highly resistant bacteria strain could grow on disinfectant if it was the sole source of carbon. Other areas of research around the resistant strain include sequencing and analysis of its genome, the role of bacterial efflux pumps removing disinfectant, and the role of plasmids (vehicles of genetic transfer between bacteria) in resistance and whether they are transferrable.

With regard to viruses, there are two kinds of viruses, enveloped and naked, and disinfectant has different effects on them. Enveloped viruses such as SARS-CoV-2, have a lipid layer picked up from their host cell, and are easy to kill with simple disinfectants because they break up the lipid layer, killing the cell. Naked cells are much harder to kill, and the few disinfectants that work against them are thought to do so by somehow disrupting the virus’ receptors.

One sanitiser of concern is alcohol, where 70% is considered optimal. However, people believe that ‘more is better’, yet increasing the alcohol percentage actually makes it evaporate faster, reducing contact time and thus leaving more of the virus behind. Similarly, some sanitisers include low levels of other disinfectant substances which are below the minimum threshold to kill the pathogens. This can leave surviving bacteria to develop resistance against these other sanitisers.

Prof Bragg advised that the public should purchase and use sanitisers prudently, following their instructions for use appropriately, and preferably checking to see if they are registered. He also cautioned

Source: News-Medical.Net

Categories : Diseases, Syndromes and ConditionsTags :

International Travellers at Risk of MDR Bacteria

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International travellers are at risk of picking up a number of drug-resistant pathogens, according to a new European study.

In the COVID pandemic, international travel has become a distant memory for most of those used to it. As restrictions are lifted and international travel resumes, travellers are still at risk from other dangerous pathogens. In recent years, the rise of intestinal multidrug resistant gram-negative (MDR-GN) bacteria around the world poses a serious health threat, with MDR clones of E.coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae threatening more antibiotic resistant infections around the world. The spread of MDR-GN is a known threat in long-term care facilities, with residents forming a reservoir for the microbes but is also common in international travel as well. It is well documented that international travel results in the spread of multidrug-resistant E. coli, with up to 80% of travellers returning from high-risk regions being colonised by MDR-GN bacteria for up to a year. However, the existing research only compared participants before and after travel. A group of researchers from Universities of Basel, Birmingham, Helsinki and Oslo, and the Wellcome Sanger Institute set out to investigate the spread of such bacteria on a day by day basis.

Over a period of three weeks, the researchers monitored the health of a group of European travellers in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic by analysing daily information returns and stool samples. They found that by the end of the study period, 70% of the travellers had been colonised. The bacterial strains colonised travellers staying at the same hotel and spending time in one another’s company. In one case, a participant was colonised by taking a shower in another’s bathroom.

“International travel is strongly linked to the spread of MDR-GN bacteria, with transmission highest in India and Southeast Asia, Africa and South America,” said senior study author Professor Alan McNally, University of Birmingham. “Travellers visiting these high-risk regions are at substantial risk of acquiring the bacteria. Colonisation by MDR-GN bacteria is a highly dynamic process. We found constant ‘competition’ between circulating strains acquired by individual hosts and the travelers’ ‘native’ bacteria. Travellers can pick up the bacteria even during short visits and further spread the strains after returning home.”

All of the participants had acquired extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBL) during their stay in Laos. ESBL enzymes create resistance within the body to most beta-lactam antibiotics, including penicillins, cephalosporins, and aztreonam. Infections with ESBL-producing organisms have proved difficult to treat. Also, all but one participant acquired multiple strains of bacteria with 83 unique strains identified (53 E. coli, 10 Klebsiella, 20 other ESBL-GN species), with up to four other participants sharing strains.

Study co-senior author, Professor Jukka Corander, at the University of Oslo and the Wellcome Sanger Institute, commented: “Our study reveals the true scale and complexity at which drug-resistant bacteria colonise the intestinal tract during travel, demonstrating that it has been seriously underestimated previously.

“In addition, several of our participants lost some of their travel-acquired ESBL-GN strains while still abroad – indicating that previous studies solely employing pre- and post-travel sampling have under-reported the extent to which travellers are colonised by ESBL-GN.”

Source: News-Medical.Net

Journal information: Kantele, A., et al. (2021) Dynamics of intestinal multidrug-resistant bacteria colonisation contracted by visitors to a high-endemic setting: a prospective, daily, real-time sampling study. The Lancet Microbe. doi.org/10.1016/S2666-5247(20)30224-X.

Categories : Diseases, Syndromes and Conditions Paediatrics VaccinesTags :

Researchers Say New Vaccines Needed for Childhood Pneumonia

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Research in Australia on new pneumonia vaccines show that while pneumonia in children is being suppressed,  empyaema is increased.

The research, which was led by the University of New South Wales (UNSW), examined the impact of the new 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (13vPCV) on childhood pneumonia and empyaema.
Empyaema, which is the collection of pus in the lungs, occurs in about 1% of children with pneumonia. In children, empyaema is far less fatal than it is in adults, but it does extend hospitalisation, requiring antibiotics and surgery or installation of a drain.
The findings of the study showed that while 13vPCV resulted in a 21% drop in childhood pneumonia hospitalisations, there was a contemporaneous 25% rise in empyaema hospitalisations.

According to senior author Professor Adam Jaffe, Head of the School of Women’s and Children’s Health at UNSW Medicine & Health, said the findings suggested an emergence of non-vaccine serotypes—those which 13vPCV does not cover.

13vPCV was introduced to cover the 13 most common serotypes that cause invasive pneumococcal infection, adding six more serotypes over the seven serotypes covered by its predecessor, 7cPCV.

Prof Jaffe said: “Although we found a substantial reduction in serotype 1, serotype 3 is now the predominant organism which causes childhood empyema—in 76% of cases—so, efforts must be made to create a vaccine which is more effective against serotype 3.

“In fact, Australia recently changed the vaccination dosage schedule to try and improve the effectiveness of 13vPCV against serotype 3, but we need to continue monitoring patients using molecular techniques to see if this change has had an impact.

“Childhood bacterial pneumonia and empyema are potentially preventable diseases through vaccination. So, if Australia can develop an effective vaccine, we could prevent children from being hospitalized with pneumonia and empyema.”

The researchers conducted a similar study over four years during the 7vPCV era.   

“Our new study had two parts,” Prof Jaffe said. “We analysed national hospitalisations for childhood empyaema and childhood pneumonia, then we conducted an enhanced surveillance study on children with empyaema.”

The first part of the research used publicly available hospitalisations data to find out if the introduction of 13vPCV changed how many children were admitted to hospital with pneumonia and empyaema.

The enhanced surveillance study involved the collection of blood and lung fluid samples from 401 children  with empyaema, followed by molecular testing on these samples and comparing the results to their previous study undertaken during the period of 7vPCV.

Prof Jaffe said research with a larger sample was ongoing, and 13vPCV monitoring was needed.

Source: Medical Xpress

Journal information: Roxanne Strachan et al. Assessing the impact of the 13 valent pneumococcal vaccine on childhood empyema in Australia, Thorax (2021). DOI: 10.1136/thoraxjnl-2020-216032

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Russia Reports Bird Flu Transmission to Humans

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On Saturday, Russia announced that it had detected the first case of the H5N8 strain of bird flu in humans.

The head of Russia’s health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor, Anna Popova, made the announcement in televised remarks. Scientists at the Vektor laboratory had identified the strain in seven workers at a Southern Russia poultry farm which had experienced an outbreak among the birds in December. No serious health consequences among the workers had been reported, and they are believed to have contracted the virus from the birds on the farm. The World Health Organization had already been alerted to the situation soon before the announcement.

Humans can contract bird flu A(H5N1) and A(H7N9) and swine flu subtypes such as A(H1N1). The bird flu subtype H5N1 is particularly dangerous as it has a 60% mortality rate in humans. According to the WHO, direct transmission between humans of such diseases is limited, and that most transmission comes when humans are in close contact with animals.

Influenza viruses are known to evolve “quite quickly” said Gwenael Vourc’h, head of research at France’s National Institute for Agriculture, Food, and Environment.

She added that there were likely cases outside Russia, saying to the FTP that this “is probably the tip of the iceberg.”

However, Francois Renaud, a researcher at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), said that he was “not particularly worried” at this stage as the COVID pandemic had taught countries to react quickly, and that “draconian measures” will be taken to curb the outbreak.

He added that the coronavirus pandemic had taught countries to react quickly to potential health threats. “Draconian measures will be taken to immediately stop the outbreak,” he said.

Avian flu has raged in several European countries including France, where hundreds of thousands of birds have been culled to stop the infection.

The Vektor State Virology and Biotechnology Centre, which picked up the transmission to the poultry farm workers, also developed one of Russia’s coronavirus vaccines. The lab once conducted secret bioweapons research in the Soviet era, and still maintains stockpiles of viruses ranging from Ebola to smallpox.

Vektor chief Rinat Maksyutov said the lab was ready to begin the development of test kits to detect H5N8 in humans, and also to commence working on a vaccine.

Source: Medical Xpress

Categories : Diseases, Syndromes and Conditions Medical Research & TechnologyTags :

Novel Magnetic Technique Detects Malaria in Blood

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A new magnetic method has been developed that can detect malaria, leading to faster, accurate and cheap diagnosis of the deadly disease.

An international study field-tested this new tool in Papua New-Guinea, in the hopes of helping the fight against this disease, which had 229 million reported cases in 2019, with 700 000 deaths a year.

“Malaria is easily treated but it is actually hard to diagnose, and because of that there can be over-treatment, which we have seen can lead to the spread of drug-resistant malaria,” said Dr Stephan Karl, a Senior Research Fellow in Malaria and Vector Biology at James Cook University’s Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine.

“Improving malaria diagnosis, especially through the development of practical methods for resource-limited places, is important and timely,” he said.

An international team including the University of Augsburg’s Professor Istvan Kezsmarki, with the PNG Institute of Medical Research and the Burnet Institute, came up with the magnetic detection method, called rotating-crystal magneto-optical detection (RMOD).

When malaria parasites break down blood, the haeme molecules are aggregated by the parasites into biocrystals called haemezoin, which contain magnetic iron. This iron can is detectable by the RMOD method.

“I’ve studied the magnetic properties of malaria infected blood since 2006, and we engaged with Professor Kezsmarki’s team in 2013 to demonstrate the sensitivity of this test using human malaria parasites,” Dr Karl said.

A field study was successfully conducted, involving almost 1000 suspected malaria patients in a high-transmission area of Papua New-Guinea.

“After years of in-lab optimisation of the device, in collaboration with Dr. Karl we demonstrated the great potential of RMOD in fast and reliable malaria field tests performed in Papua New-Guinea,” Prof Kezsmarki said.

“We showed that RMOD performs well in comparison to the most reliable existing method..It’s very promising, as RMOD testing can be conducted after a short training session and provides test results within 10 minutes. From a funding perspective the cost is very low since no expensive reagents are used,” said Dr Karl.

Dr Karl said the aim was to refine the design until a test could be done by a simple button push.

Source: Medical Xpress

Journal information: L. Arndt et al, Magneto-optical diagnosis of symptomatic malaria in Papua New Guinea, Nature Communications (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-21110-w