Differences in novel

Introduction: Schistosomiasis is a neglected tropical disease caused by parasitic worms of the genus Methods: We evaluated the performance of these RDT prototypes using serum, whole blood, and dried blood spots (DBS). RDT results were determined by two visual readers and a Lumos automated reader, which also provided a quantitative readout of test line intensity. Lumos results were used to quantify test line stability over time. Further, we compared RDT results to other serologic assays (ELISA and the multiplex bead assay) that detect antibodies against Sm25, Sm29 and two additional Results: While both Sm25 and Sm29 RDTs exhibited high specificity and stability that surpassed TPP criteria, their sensitivity fell short of TPP goals. Sensitivity was highest with serum, followed by DBS, then whole blood, which would be the most useful for point-of-care settings. In addition, we identified a gap in the ability of currently used recombinant antigens to detect all people infected with Discussion: Our findings underscore that while these prototypes represent a promising start, there is still a case for novel antigen discovery and generation of RDTs with increased sensitivity to meet TPP criteria.