Rapid test for hidden disease
A new rapid test to detect the 'invisible' sexually transmitted disease, chlamydia, which affects millions of men and women, has been created by a team of scientists partly funded by the Wellcome Trust biomedical research charity.
The award-winning 'Firstburst' (see note 2) dipstick test is cheap and can give a result in minutes - vital factors if it is to be successfully introduced in the developing world where it is the main cause of preventable blindness in new-born babies. The disease can also make women infertile or cause them to suffer ectopic pregnancies and abortions.
Chlamydia is one of the most common STDs, with 92 million new cases being recorded by the World Health Organization in 1999. The UK healthcare costs in relation to the disease run to around £100 million with an estimated 10 per cent of women under 25 attending inner city clinics suffering from chlamydia. Of those who contract it 70 per cent of women and 50 per cent of men show no symptoms.
Earlier this year the Commons cross-party Health Committee reported a crisis in the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. It noted that cases of chlamydia had more than doubled between 1996-2001 to more than 67 000 cases a year (see note 3).
The £3 million, five-year dipstick project was led by Dr Helen Lee who brought together a 13-strong international team of chemists, biologists, engineers and material scientists from private industry backgrounds and academia who were keen to work on a 'social investment' programme.
The Wellcome Trust gave just over £2 million to the project with the remaining finance coming from the World Health Organization and the US National Institutes of Health. The Trust has added a further £750 000 from its Technology Transfer Division to help Dr Lee set-up a California-based company, Diagnostics for the Real World which will distribute the dipstick, initially in Africa and Asia.
Dr Lee, who is based at the University of Cambridge, said: "It's important to have a quick, simple-to-use test for chlamydia because seven out of ten women who contract the disease have no idea they have been infected. But once it has been diagnosed it is easily treated with a one-off pill.
"It's vital the test is instant and not expensive. If you're living in a country where you have to walk for several hours or even a day to get to a clinic it's extremely unlikely you would bother to make the return trip a week later to get the result of a check-up.
"Also the healthcare spend per person in many developing countries is just a few pounds a year so they can't afford to have expensive diagnostics.
"Chlamydia is a major problem in the west as well as the developing world. It's a hugely damaging disease that does not discriminate nor respect borders."
The test works by analysing either urine or a vaginal swab using virtually no equipment.
Its distinguishing features include:
- Simplicity - a non specialised person can be trained in ten minutes;
- Rapidity - taking less than 25 minutes to produce the results;
- Price. Less than 50 pence in developing countries;
- Remains stable in high temperatures and humidity;
- Can work with non-invasive samples such as self-collected vaginal swabs or urine.
Dr Ted Bianco, Director of Technology Transfer at the Wellcome Trust, said: "This is a tremendously exciting social investment which has the potential to help millions of people who suffer from this insidious disease.
"The dipstick is one of a new generation of rapid tests which can revolutionize diagnostics and aid the timely provision of treatment to those most in need."
Professor Robin Carrell FRS, of the University of Cambridge added: "This outcome is the result of a series of innovations requiring years of work that have now come together to open exciting prospects for the diagnosis of infectious diseases affecting the wellbeing of many peoples."
Barry Gardner
Wellcome Trust Media Office
Tel: 020 7611 7329
Mobile: 07711 193041
E-mail:
b.gardner@wellcome.ac.uk
Notes to editors
- 1. The Wellcome Trust is an independent research-funding charity established in 1936 under the will of tropical medicine pioneer Sir Henry Wellcome. The Trust's mission is to promote research with the aim of improving human and animal health.
- 2. FirstBurst collects the first drops of urine which are vital as they are bacteria-laden. The test won the 2003 Medical Futures Best Diagnostic Innovation Award In London.
- 3. Commons Select Committee on Health, Third Report: 22 May 2003.