Status of diagnostics for three arbovirus infections in resource-limited settings

Climate change, travel, and urbanization contribute to increasing exposure to Zika, Dengue and Chikungunya. Lab-based diagnostics are required because of overlapping clinical presentations. Here we review the current diagnostic methods, and find them poorly adapted to point of care use in resource-limited settings: generally, serologic assays are hindered by cross-reactivity while molecular assays require laboratory conditions. We conclude that a differential diagnostic device is critically needed, requiring a simpler molecular assay kit that maintains high sensitivity and specificity.

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Towards AI-Enabled Multimodal Diagnostics and Management of COVID-19 and Comorbidities in Resource-Limited Settings

Informatics ◽

10.3390/informatics8040063 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 (4) ◽

pp. 63

Author(s):

Olawande Daramola ◽

Peter Nyasulu ◽

Tivani Mashamba-Thompson ◽

Thomas Moser ◽

Sean Broomhead ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Point Of Care ◽

Low Cost ◽

Personal Data ◽

Disease Diagnosis ◽

Careful Consideration ◽

Diagnostic Methods ◽

Contact Tracing ◽

Patient Treatment ◽

Resource Limited Settings ◽

Resource Limited

A conceptual artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled framework is presented in this study involving triangulation of various diagnostic methods for management of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and its associated comorbidities in resource-limited settings (RLS). The proposed AI-enabled framework will afford capabilities to harness low-cost polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based molecular diagnostics, radiological image-based assessments, and end-user provided information for the detection of COVID-19 cases and management of symptomatic patients. It will support self-data capture, clinical risk stratification, explanation-based intelligent recommendations for patient triage, disease diagnosis, patient treatment, contact tracing, and case management. This will enable communication with end-users in local languages through cheap and accessible means, such as WhatsApp/Telegram, social media, and SMS, with careful consideration of the need for personal data protection. The objective of the AI-enabled framework is to leverage multimodal diagnostics of COVID-19 and associated comorbidities in RLS for the diagnosis and management of COVID-19 cases and general support for pandemic recovery. We intend to test the feasibility of implementing the proposed framework through community engagement in sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries where many people are living with pre-existing comorbidities. A multimodal approach to disease diagnostics enabling access to point-of-care testing is required to reduce fragmentation of essential services across the continuum of COVID-19 care.

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Trends in Diagnosis for Active Tuberculosis Using Nanomaterials

Current Medicinal Chemistry ◽

10.2174/0929867325666180912105617 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 26 (11) ◽

pp. 1946-1959 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Le Minh Tu Phan ◽

Lemma Teshome Tufa ◽

Hwa-Jung Kim ◽

Jaebeom Lee ◽

Tae Jung Park

Keyword(s):

Sensitivity And Specificity ◽

High Efficiency ◽

Point Of Care ◽

High Sensitivity ◽

Signs And Symptoms ◽

Diagnostic Methods ◽

Advantages And Disadvantages ◽

Treatment And Prevention ◽

Clinical Tools ◽

Diagnostic Applications

Background:Tuberculosis (TB), one of the leading causes of death worldwide, is difficult to diagnose based only on signs and symptoms. Methods for TB detection are continuously being researched to design novel effective clinical tools for the diagnosis of TB.Objective:This article reviews the methods to diagnose TB at the latent and active stages and to recognize prospective TB diagnostic methods based on nanomaterials.Methods:The current methods for TB diagnosis were reviewed by evaluating their advantages and disadvantages. Furthermore, the trends in TB detection using nanomaterials were discussed regarding their performance capacity for clinical diagnostic applications.Results:Current methods such as microscopy, culture, and tuberculin skin test are still being employed to diagnose TB, however, a highly sensitive point of care tool without false results is still needed. The utilization of nanomaterials to detect the specific TB biomarkers with high sensitivity and specificity can provide a possible strategy to rapidly diagnose TB. Although it is challenging for nanodiagnostic platforms to be assessed in clinical trials, active TB diagnosis using nanomaterials is highly expected to achieve clinical significance for regular application. In addition, aspects and future directions in developing the high-efficiency tools to diagnose active TB using advanced nanomaterials are expounded.Conclusion:This review suggests that nanomaterials have high potential as rapid, costeffective tools to enhance the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity for the accurate diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of TB. Hence, portable nanobiosensors can be alternative effective tests to be exploited globally after clinical trial execution.

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Validation of a point-of-care rapid diagnostic test for hepatitis C for use in resource-limited settings

International Health ◽

10.1093/inthealth/ihy101 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (4) ◽

pp. 314-315

Author(s):

James S Leathers ◽

Maria Belen Pisano ◽

Viviana Re ◽

Gertine van Oord ◽

Amir Sultan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Point Of Care ◽

Low Cost ◽

Rapid Diagnosis ◽

Direct Acting Antivirals ◽

Resource Limited Settings ◽

Rapid Diagnosis Test ◽

Resource Limited ◽

Specificity And Sensitivity ◽

Hcv Screening ◽

Direct Acting

Abstract Background Treatment of HCV with direct-acting antivirals has enabled the discussion of HCV eradication worldwide. Envisioning this aim requires implementation of mass screening in resource-limited areas, usually constrained by testing costs. Methods We validated a low-cost, rapid diagnosis test (RDT) for HCV in three different continents in 141 individuals. Results The HCV RDT showed 100% specificity and sensitivity across different samples regardless of genotype or viral load (in samples with such information, 90%). Conclusions The HCV test validated in this study can allow for HCV screening in areas of need when properly used.

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Multi-Angle Lensfree Holographic Imaging for 3-D Cytometry on a Chip

ASME 2010 5th Frontiers in Biomedical Devices Conference and Exhibition ◽

10.1115/biomed2010-32009 ◽

2010 ◽

Author(s):

Ting-Wei Su ◽

Serhan O. Isikman ◽

Waheb Bishara ◽

Derek K. Tseng ◽

Anthony Erlinger ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Optical Microscopy ◽

Biomedical Applications ◽

Point Of Care ◽

Resource Limited Settings ◽

Holographic Imaging ◽

Essential Tool ◽

Resource Limited

Optical microscopy is an essential tool for many biomedical applications. Although commonly-used in laboratory settings, conventional optical microscopes are bulky and relatively costly to use in resource-limited settings which partially limit their use in point-of-care applications.

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Implementation and Scale Up of Point of Care (POC) Diagnostics in Resource-Limited Settings

10.3390/books978-3-03943-171-7 ◽

2020 ◽

Keyword(s):

Point Of Care ◽

Scale Up ◽

Resource Limited Settings ◽

Resource Limited

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Experiential Learning Curriculum Delivery Approach for Quality Improvement in Resource Limited Settings: Mobile Learning for Point-of-Care Technologies

Global Journal of Health Science ◽

10.5539/gjhs.v11n13p158 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (13) ◽

pp. 158

Author(s):

Nkosinothando Chamane ◽

Tivani Phosa Mashamba-Thompson

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Primary Health Care ◽

Experiential Learning ◽

Service Delivery ◽

Point Of Care ◽

Service Improvement ◽

Quality Service ◽

Resource Limited Settings ◽

Primary Health ◽

Resource Limited

BACKGROUND: Despite impressive progress that has been made in the provision of health care services to all, the issue of quality service delivery still remains a challenge particularly for point-of-care (POC) diagnostics in resource-limited-settings. Poor competency of primary health care workers in these settings has been shown to be amongst the main contributors to poor quality service delivery. FINDINGS: Participatory-based continuous professional development (CPD) strategies to support technology advancements in health care are recommended. Experiential learning approaches have been shown to be efficient in supplementing traditional teaching methods for both health care students and professionals. These approaches have been shown to further contribute towards continuous skills development and lifelong learning. CONCLUSION: This review therefore provided an overview of literature on experiential learning as one of CPD approaches in relation to health care service improvement in resource-limited setting. In addition, this review has recommended a mobile-based experiential learning approach to help deliver a quality POC technology curriculum to Primary health care-based workers in resource-limited settings.

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A Scoping Review Protocol for Supply Chain Management Systems for Point of Care Diagnostics Services: Optimising COVID-19 Testing Capacity in Resource-limited Settings

10.21203/rs.3.rs-591015/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Kuhlula Maluleke ◽

Thobeka Dlangalala ◽

Alfred Musekiwa ◽

Kabelo Kgarosi ◽

Sphamandla Nkambule ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Supply Chain ◽

Supply Chain Management ◽

Scoping Review ◽

Point Of Care ◽

Scientific Journal ◽

World Health ◽

Future Research ◽

Resource Limited Settings ◽

Chain Management ◽

Resource Limited

Abstract BackgroundRapid and specific diagnostic tests are essential for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) testing to allow prompt isolation and early treatment initiation if necessary. Currently, reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests are the gold standard for SARS-CoV-2 testing but are difficult to implement in resource-limited settings with poor access to laboratory infrastructure. Point of care (POC) testing may be more feasible in resource-limited settings because POC testing is cost-effective, easy to perform, results are rapid, and they can be performed at all levels of healthcare by health professionals with minimal training. To ensure equitable access, it is important that SARS-CoV-2 testing is optimised through well-established supply chain management (SCM). Here we outline a protocol for a scoping review aimed at mapping literature on SCM for POC testing in resource limited settings to guide both future research and the implementation of SARS-CoV-2 POC diagnostics. MethodologyThis scoping review will be guided by an adapted version of the Arksey and O’Malley methodological framework. We will search the Medline Ovid, Medline EBSCO, Scopus, PubMed, PsychInfo, Web of Science and EBSCOHost databases. We will search gray literature in the form of dissertations/theses, conference proceedings, websites of international organisations such as the World Health Organisation and government reports. We will include articles reporting evidence published since inception. Language restrictions will not be applied. We will use a search summary table to test the effectiveness of the search strategy. Two reviewers will screen eligible studies using a tool developed for this scoping review. The quality of the included studies will be appraised using the mixed method appraisal tool (MMAT) version 2018. Discussion The proposed scoping review will gather relevant studies on SCM systems for POC diagnostics services globally. We anticipate that this review’s findings will guide future research on SCM systems for POC diagnostics services in resource-limited settings. The results will be published in a scientific journal, presented at relevant conferences and form part of workshops with key stakeholders involved in SCM systems for POC diagnostics services.

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