|
|
||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Received on ,
Accepted on ,
Technical Briefs |
1 Department of Microbiology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR
2 Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR
3 Department of Parasitology and Molecular Medicine Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka
4 Department of Clinical Tropical medicine, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: llmpoon{at}hkucc.hku.hk.
Background: Malaria is one of the most important parasitic infections in humans. A sensitive diagnostic test for malaria that could be applied at the community level could be useful in programs to control the disease. The aim of the present work was to develop a simple, inexpensive molecular test for Plasmodium falciparum.
Methods: Blood was collected from controls (n = 100) and from patients diagnosed with falciparum malaria infection (n = 102), who were recruited to the study. Heat-treated blood samples were tested by a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay for P. falciparum. Results were interpreted by a turbidity meter in real time or visually at the end of the assay. To evaluate the assay, DNA from these samples was purified and tested by PCR. Results from the LAMP and PCR assays were compared.
Results: The LAMP assay detected P. falciparum directly from heat-treated blood. The quantitative data from the assay correlated to the parasite counts obtained by blood-film microscopic analyses. When we used the PCR assay as the comparison method, the sensitivity and specificity of the LAMP assay were 95\% and 99\%, respectively.
Conclusions: Unlike PCR, the LAMP assay does not require purified DNA for efficient DNA amplification, thereby reducing the cost and turnaround time for P. falciparum diagnosis. The assay requires only basic instruments, and assay positivity can be verified by visual inspection.
The following articles in journals at HighWire Press have cited this article:
![]() |
H. Takagi, M. Itoh, M. Z. Islam, A. Razzaque, A. R. M. S. Ekram, Y. Hashighuchi, E. Noiri, and E. Kimura Sensitive, Specific, and Rapid Detection of Leishmania donovani DNA by Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification Am J Trop Med Hyg, October 1, 2009; 81(4): 578 - 582. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
A. Nkouawa, Y. Sako, M. Nakao, K. Nakaya, and A. Ito Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification Method for Differentiation and Rapid Detection of Taenia Species J. Clin. Microbiol., January 1, 2009; 47(1): 168 - 174. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
J. Inacio, O. Flores, and I. Spencer-Martins Efficient Identification of Clinically Relevant Candida Yeast Species by Use of an Assay Combining Panfungal Loop-Mediated Isothermal DNA Amplification with Hybridization to Species-Specific Oligonucleotide Probes J. Clin. Microbiol., February 1, 2008; 46(2): 713 - 720. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
N. Uemura, K. Makimura, M. Onozaki, Y. Otsuka, Y. Shibuya, H. Yazaki, Y. Kikuchi, S. Abe, and S. Kudoh Development of a loop-mediated isothermal amplification method for diagnosing Pneumocystis pneumonia J. Med. Microbiol., January 1, 2008; 57(1): 50 - 57. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
D. H. Paris, M. Imwong, A. M. Faiz, M. Hasan, E. B. Yunus, K. Silamut, S. J. Lee, N. P. J. Day, and A. M. Dondorp Loop-Mediated Isothermal PCR (LAMP) for the Diagnosis of Falciparum Malaria Am J Trop Med Hyg, November 1, 2007; 77(5): 972 - 976. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
E.-T. Han, R. Watanabe, J. Sattabongkot, B. Khuntirat, J. Sirichaisinthop, H. Iriko, L. Jin, S. Takeo, and T. Tsuboi Detection of Four Plasmodium Species by Genus- and Species-Specific Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification for Clinical Diagnosis J. Clin. Microbiol., August 1, 2007; 45(8): 2521 - 2528. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
C. C. Boehme, P. Nabeta, G. Henostroza, R. Raqib, Z. Rahim, M. Gerhardt, E. Sanga, M. Hoelscher, T. Notomi, T. Hase, et al. Operational Feasibility of Using Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification for Diagnosis of Pulmonary Tuberculosis in Microscopy Centers of Developing Countries J. Clin. Microbiol., June 1, 2007; 45(6): 1936 - 1940. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
B. R. Bista, C. Ishwad, R. M. Wadowsky, P. Manna, P. S. Randhawa, G. Gupta, M. Adhikari, R. Tyagi, G. Gasper, and A. Vats Development of a Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification Assay for Rapid Detection of BK Virus J. Clin. Microbiol., May 1, 2007; 45(5): 1581 - 1587. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH |