Dipstick Assay Tests Available for Army Preventive Medicine
The devices for rapidly detecting pathogens in mosquitoes and sand flies that cause malaria, dengue, and leishmaniasis were developed by the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command.
Three devices for rapidly detecting pathogens in mosquitoes and sand flies that cause malaria, dengue, and leishmaniasis are now available to U.S. Army preventive medicine personnel for use in areas of operation, The Mercury, Army Medicine's newspaper, reported in its July 2012 edition. The three arthropod vector rapid detection devices were developed by the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, Carey Phillips of USAMMDA Public Affairs reported.
The devices, known as "dipstick assays," produce results in as little as 15 minutes, Phillips reported.
Leishmaniasis, a disease spread by the bite of female sand flies, has been reported in military personnel returning from the Persian Gulf. Cutaneous leishmaniasis affects the skin and mucous membranes, while systemic leishmaniasis affects the entire body and can lead to deadly complications.
The July issue includes a report on a new Interdisciplinary Pain Management Center, located at Fort Bliss, Texas, that will address chronic pain, as well as an item noting July 27 is the 237th anniversary of the creation of the Army Medical Corps, marking the Continental Congress' decision in 1775 to establish the first Army Hospital.