Development of a Direct Diagnostic Test for Infectious and Congenital Syphilis

PROJECT SUMMARY Current diagnostic tests for syphilis are non-optimal, in that they cannot differentiate active from past infection, cannot diagnose congenital syphilis, and have low sensitivity in early and late disease. With the number of infectious and congenital syphilis cases rapidly expanding in the US and worldwide, curbing the spread of disease will be aided by development of a better diagnostic test that is definitive, easily interpreted, and compatible with a point-of-care test format. In this research application we propose to develop a direct syphilis diagnostic test that: (1) exhibits high sensitivity and specificity at all disease stages; (2) can differentiate active versus past infections; (3) can differentiate syphilis from yaws; (4) can allow accurate disease staging; and (5) can be adapted to a point-of-care format for ease of testing in remote areas.