# Rapid and Simple Paper Diagnostic Test to Detect Enteric Pathogens in the Developing World

> **NIH NIH R21** · GODX, INC. · 2024 · $151,674

## Abstract

Project Summary
According to the World Health Organization, there are 1.7 billion cases of gastroenteritis every
year and approximately 1.5 million children deaths. Diarrheal disease is the second leading
cause of death in children under five years of age, mostly in the developing world. A wide-range
of bacterial, viral, and parasitic pathogens can cause disease, with co-infections being common
in low income countries with high disease burden. Clinical determination of therapy in resource-
limited healthcare settings is frequently performed without etiological knowledge. As a result,
antibiotics are overprescribed and poorly targeted, and infections caused by pathogens with
high mortality rates may not be given adequate quality of care. Diagnostic testing for these
pathogens is inconsistent because detection of these common pathogens traditionally requires
transporting patients or patient samples, possibly over long distances, to a limited number of
diagnostic laboratories, and then performing multiple tests across microbiology, virology, and
molecular laboratories. Results may not be available for several days during which patients’
conditions may deteriorate without appropriate treatment. The rapid identification of pathogens
that cause infectious diarrheal disease at the point-of-care may save lives and improve health
outcomes by enabling prompt and appropriate treatment. Potential users in the developing
world could include tertiary clinics in rural areas or urban low-income populations with low health
care utilization and national public health field officers who investigate outbreaks. The goal of
our project is to determine the feasibility of developing an innovative paper strip test that can
integrate the steps of low cost, simple stool sample preparation and concentration method using
hollow silica microspheres for total nucleic acid capture with multiplexed nucleic acid
amplification and detection on a paper strip device. We will test 600 stool samples from patients
enrolled in an ongoing study of GI disease in low-income neighborhoods of Bangladesh where
the prevalence of infection by pathogens like Cholera, Salmonella, Shigella, Campylobacter is
high. Success in this project can have broad impact in the development of other simple, point-
of-care differential detection tests for pathogens causing other diseases in other sample types.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10915396
- **Project number:** 5R21AI169387-02
- **Recipient organization:** GODX, INC.
- **Principal Investigator:** Kelly K Baker
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $151,674
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-09-01 → 2026-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10915396

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10915396, Rapid and Simple Paper Diagnostic Test to Detect Enteric Pathogens in the Developing World (5R21AI169387-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10915396. Licensed CC0.

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