Issue 45, 2018

Simple lateral flow assays for microbial detection in stool

Abstract

Diarrheal diseases claim the lives of 1300 children daily, mostly in the developing world. We have developed a simple lateral flow assay capable of detecting E. coli and EPEC DNA and RNA rapidly (<15 minutes) at the point-of-need, directly from stool without nucleic acid extraction or molecular amplification. The limit of detection of the method is 1 nM using synthetic DNA target substrates spiked into stool. However, due to the endogenous amplification of the 23S rRNA targets, we were able to detect the endogenous EPEC in pea-sized (5 mg) stool without labor-intensive and time-consuming nucleic acid purification or target amplification using enzymes. The significance of this method is that it is rapid (<15 minutes) and simple (without nucleic acid purification or molecular amplification) and does not require instrumentation, or access to a laboratory, cold chain or electric power. Thus, it is well-suited for point-of-need use in remote and/or resource-limited settings in the developing world where the mortality due to diarrheal diseases is especially high. The rapid testing of stool pathogens in real time at the point-of-need will decrease the loss of patients to follow-up, and enable patients to be treated earlier with the appropriate therapeutics in both the developed and developing world settings.

Graphical abstract: Simple lateral flow assays for microbial detection in stool

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
03 jul 2018
Accepted
30 aug 2018
First published
20 sep 2018
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Anal. Methods, 2018,10, 5358-5363

Simple lateral flow assays for microbial detection in stool

W. A. Henderson, L. Xiang, N. H. Fourie, S. K. Abey, E. G. Ferguson, A. F. Diallo, N. D. Kenea and C. H. Kim, Anal. Methods, 2018, 10, 5358 DOI: 10.1039/C8AY01475B

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