University of Missouri researchers have developed a new method that can detect Rocky Mountain spotted fever in just 40 minutes, a breakthrough the university says could help patients receive treatment sooner. The test involves mixing DNA from a blood sample with specialized reagents in two 20-minute steps and can be completed at room temperature without complex or costly laboratory equipment. After 40 minutes, a change in the liquid’s color indicates a positive detection of the bacteria.
The disease can progress rapidly, with patients moving from a tick bite to severe fever, headache, and rash within days, and existing diagnostic tools can be expensive, hard to access, or unable to detect low levels of bacteria in a blood sample. Since the antibiotic doxycycline is used to treat the disease, clinicians often prescribe it while awaiting confirmatory testing, a process the university said can currently take too long.
Roman Ganta, a Curators’ Distinguished Professor in Mizzou’s College of Veterinary Medicine and investigator in the Bond Life Sciences Center, said he hopes the test can eventually be used in rural or under-resourced clinics that lack access to the advanced laboratory equipment currently required for diagnosis, and is in discussions with Mizzou’s Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory about potential clinical applications. The study, “A rapid isothermal RPA–CRISPR/Cas12a assay for detection of Rickettsia rickettsii,” was published in Frontiers in Microbiology.
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“Unfortunately, this disease can be particularly deadly in children if diagnosis is delayed, and often patients may not realize they have been bitten by a tick until they feel extremely ill. Quicker diagnosis leads to quicker treatment with doxycycline, so we are hopeful our research can improve outcomes for those impacted. By making this test more accessible, more patients can benefit from our work one day.”
Roman Ganta, Curators’ Distinguished Professor, University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine
