Leishmaniasis has significant impact on military and civilian populations throughout the Asia-Africa region, including Afghanistan and Iraq. There are currrentlly no proper field-deployable diagnostic tools for the key form, cutaneous leishmaniasis. Development of an assay which detects cutaneous leishmaniasis, that is rapid, accurate, field usable, soldier-friendly, and meets regulatory requirements is a high priority for DoD and also a priority for health and government medical centers responsible for inhabitants and visitors to the region. Access Bio proposes to develop and commercialize a rapid diagnostic test for military and civilian use. Immediate benefits include the ability to detect cutaneous leishmaniasis on a disease-stage basis (acute/chronic) and generation of revenues to a US small business concern. Downstream potential benefits include utilization of the knowledge to develop a useful monitoring kit for a leishmaniasis vaccine currently under development and application and modification of the current research and development approach to other parasitic diseases in the future
