Publisher Wiley-Blackwell released a new book in May entitled “Revolutionizing Tropical Medicine: Point-of-Care Tests, New Imaging Technologies and Digital Health” by authors/editors Kerry Atkinson and David Mabey. Written for physicians, infectious disease specialists, pathologists, radiologists, nurses, pharmacists and other health care workers, as well as government healthcare managers, the book is an essential and realistic guide to treating and diagnosing patients in low-resource tropical countries based on new technologies.

Chapter 14, written by doctors Amina Nardo-Marino and Tom N. Williams, is entitled Rapid Diagnostic Tests for the Detection of Sickling Hemoglobin. The authors discuss traditional point-of-care screening methods as well as some newer innovations, including Sickle SCAN. From the authors:

The most promising test, however, is a lateral flow immunoassay device marketed as Sickle SCAN. The Sickle SCAN device is a rapid, qualitative lateral flow immunoassay kit that can be used to diagnose the most common forms of SCD (HbSS and HbSC), as well as sickle cell trait (HbAS), using a capillary blood sample.

The book is available now, and more information can be found at the Wiley Online Library at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/9781119282686

During the first two weeks of December, eHealth Africa (eHA) organized the Sickle Cell Campaigns, an outreach program focused on raising awareness of Sickle Cell Disease (SCD), its signs and symptoms, inheritance patterns, the importance of SCD genotype testing, and prevention.

A total of 602 people were screened for the disease at no charge using the BioMedomics Sickle SCAN Rapid Test Kit. Patients who tested positive for SCD and  who presented with symptoms were given routine medication and advised on first-level crisis management or referred to local primary health care centers.

eHealth Africa, Pro-Health International, and the Sickle Cell Well Africa Foundation (SCWAF) presented the campaign results at stakeholder meetings in Nigeria’s Bauchi and Gombe States, and provided evidence-based recommendations on approaches to Sickle Cell Disease.

Going forward, eHA intends to work with Pro-Health International to develop a comprehensive data collection tool which will support tracking and follow up of SCD patients in Pro-Health Sickle Cell Clinics. More information on the topic can be found on eHA’s blog and website at www.ehealthafrica.org.

A study published this month in the journal BMC Hematology, evaluated the performance of BioMedomics’ Sickle SCAN rapid test under real-world environmental conditions in two West African countries.

From the published paper:

“Previous to the DREPATEST study, Sickle SCAN had been assessed in field conditions in two studies in sub-Saharan Africa, with promising results. However, none of these studies provided information regarding the climate conditions. The aim of this study is to assess the diagnostic accuracy (sensitivity and specificity) of the Sickle SCAN POC test and its acceptability to persons conducting the tests under field conditions (temperature and relative humidity) in children older than 6 months of age and adults, in Lome (Togo) and Bamako (Mali), West Africa.”

“We conclude that the Sickle SCAN® test demonstrates excellent to perfect (HbAS, HbAC, HbSS, HbSC)or perfect (HbCC and HbAA) diagnostic accuracy, under both laboratory and field conditions. This rapid test demonstrates outstanding sensitivity and specificity when evaluated against existing gold standards. In addition, this test allows instrument- and electricity-free visual diagnostics, and requires minimal training to be performed.This rapid test is cheaper, easier to implement,and logistically more convenient than the current standard diagnostic methods in use in West Africa.”

The entire study can be viewed and downloaded here:

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12878-018-0120-5