Point-of-Care Diagnostic for Acute Q Fever using LAMP

Q fever, caused by the bacterium Coxiella burnetii, presents with acute symptoms indistinguishable from many other blood infections. Chronic infection, more frequently developing in immunocompromised individuals, presents a high mortality rate (up to 60% of chronic cases) and often requires open-heart surgery to repair substantial valve damage. Q fever can be airborne or tick-borne and is a significant detriment in deployment conditions. It is important to diagnose Q-fever during its acute phase to direct appropriate treatment and identify personnel requiring follow-up monitoring for chronic disease. While serology tests have been commercialized for Q fever detection, it is necessary to test both IgG and IgM against two types of C. burnetii antigens to differentiate between acute and chronic disease stages. Additionally, a high false positive rate occurs for these assays, and the antibody response is difficult to detect early in infection. To eliminate these shortcomings, Agave BioSystems proposed to integrate a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) reaction built into a point-of-care field diagnostic device. To date, we have been highly successful with the implementation of a breadboard device for real time readings and expect to continue the development of a hand-held, fully-enclosed device, capable of providing early detection of acute phase Q-Fever.