Malaria test wins prestigious award
12 Aug 2016 by qmwwwtqmqt.d qmwwwtqmqt.d
Illumigene Malaria, a highly accurate malaria test has won the Journées Internationales de Biologie prize for innovation in emergency treatment and point of care testing.
Illumigene Malaria, a highly accurate malaria test has won the Journées Internationales de Biologie prize for innovation in emergency treatment and point of care testing.
The malaria test, developed by Meridian Bioscience, is up to 80,000 times more sensitive at detection of the malaria parasite than conventional tests, with results available in less than an hour.Mike Shaughnessy, President for Global Diagnostics at Meridian Global Diagnostics, said “Meridian is a company with a tradition of innovation and quality products in the field of parasitology, bacteriology and virology. This product fits both emergency and decentralisation needs as it aids in the immediate clinical diagnostic. This test provides an extremely accurate result in less than 1 hour - a new lab technician can perform this test. Moreover, it is currently being performed in a wide variety of settings – from highly specialised reference laboratories to community labs”
Illumigene Malaria uses loop mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), a DNA amplification method. It combines the accuracy of molecular testing while reducing diagnosis time, use of complicated materials and temperature changes. It received its CE mark in January 2016. The test was developed in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Professor Daouda Ndiaye from Cheik Anta Diop University of Dakar, Senegal.More than three billion people are at risk of malaria, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). WHO estimated 214m cases of malaria and almost 450,000 deaths in 2015. Sub-Saharan Africa had 88% of malaria cases and 90% of malaria deaths.
Meridian Bioscience is working with countries in the developing world to increase access of the test to target areas of low parasite counts.