Western Blot for Diagnosis of a Neglected and Reemerging Illness in Endemic and Extreme Poverty Peruvian Areas: Carrión's Disease

In the inter-Andean valleys of Peru, there is a neglected illness called Carrion's disease, affecting populations that live in conditions of extreme poverty and with deficient sanitation. Carrion's disease is transmitted to humans through mosquito bites and poses one of the greatest health problems in affected regions of Peru. The illness has two clinical forms: (1) an acute (hematic) phase, known as 'Oroya fever', reporting a mortality of up to 88% in untreated individuals, and (2) a later, eruptive phase, in which the patient develops nodular dermal eruptions known as 'Verruga Peruana'. The current methods for the diagnosis of this disease are very limited, due to the low sensitivity of staining techniques, the long period of culture and the high cost of molecular testing. This project answers the need for a rapid, sensitive and specific serological test to detect Carrion's disease using the Western blot technique. The diagnostic test will be inexpensive, easy to apply and could be used in the first level of health care, aiming to a prompt care of the patients in endemic areas. This project is funded under a collaborative agreement between CONCYTEC (Peru's National Council for Science, Technology and Technological Innovation) and Grand Challenges Canada (funded by the Government of Canada) to support Stars in Global Health innovators based in Peru.