Aplicación de la tecnología lamp (Loop-mediated isothermal amplification) para el diagnóstico molecular de infecciones por Schistosoma haematobium

Abstract

Schistosoma haematobium (the causative agent of genitorurinary schistosomiasis) affects 112 million people in 54 countries in Africa and the East. The gold standard diagnosis is microscopic observation of parasite eggs in urine of patients, although with limitations. Serological and molecular diagnosis also have limitations and are difficult to perform in endemic areas. An alternative is isothermal LAMP-type nucleic acid amplification. In previous studies we developed a molecular method based on LAMP technology to detect S. haematobium DNA (Sh-LAMP) with high specificity and sensitivity. Here, we evaluated its performance on urine samples collected in a urogenital schistosomiasis endemic area (Cubal, Angola). We selected 33 urine samples with field microscopic analysis: 14 negative and 19 positive. DNA was extracted and analysed by colorimetric Sh-LAMP. We obtained a positive Sh-LAMP result (89.5%) in 17/19 microscopically positive samples and negative in the 14 microscopically negative samples. The ease of use and interpretation and the level of reproducibility of the results with respect to microscopy suggest that Sh-LAMP can be an effective tool for molecular diagnosis of urogenital schistosomiasis and useful in epidemiological mapping and disease control studies.