Single-Imaging Parasite-Quantification Microfluidic Device for Detection and Analysis of Schistosoma Eggs in Urine

Abstract

The accurate diagnosis of schistosomiasis for effective disease surveillance, treatment, and follow-up is crucial to attain the World Health Organization's 2030 goal to eliminate schistosomiasis as a public health problem. The current diagnostic tools for urinary schistosomiasis, including the gold standard urine filtration test, have been reported to show low sensitivity in detecting low-intensity infections, which, when missed, act as reservoirs for infections-an evident gap in endemic areas where preventive chemotherapy reduces infection intensities. This study assessed the laboratory-based performance of the newly developed urinary Single Imaging Parasite Quantification chip for <i>Schistosoma haematobium</i> egg detection across different infection intensities. Two designs of the urinary chips were evaluated using polystyrene particles as a model for <i>Schistosoma haematobium</i> eggs, where the prototype design effectively captured the particles in the field of view with 96.00% to 100% efficiency. The second-generation chip, while eliminating the need for the air-drying step that was necessary in the operation of the prototype chip, similarly showed high capture efficiencies (95.20% to 96.00%). Overall, the prototype chip slightly outperformed the second-generation chip, and this difference was statistically significant (unpaired <i>t</i>-test, <i>p</i> = 0.0319). Testing of the prototype chip with spiked goat urine maintained high efficiencies of 99.33% to 100%. Similarly, both chip designs could trap real <i>Schistosoma haematobium</i> eggs in their fields of view, demonstrating their potential as diagnostic platforms that can contribute to improved diagnostics, disease surveillance, and monitoring.