According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are a diverse group of communicable diseases that prevail in tropical and sub-tropical conditions. They are thought to affect over one billion people worldwide and can cost developing economies billions of dollars every year.

Included in the list of NTDs are: dengue and chikungunya, leprosy, rabies, scabies, and snakebite envenoming.

WHO's NTD Roadmap has outlined targets to eliminate many and eradicate at least two NTDs by 2020. And now researchers from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) believe they have found a way to help tackle the global issue of NTDs.

The research team, with colleagues across the COUNTDOWN Consortium, investigated whether the global network of polio labs could help in addressing NTDs.

As LSTM explains, the WHO established the Global Polio Laboratory Network (GPLN) in 1988 as part of its plans to eradicate polio. The network is made up of 145 labs around the world, and local health clinics send samples from individuals presenting signs of polio to the labs, which then test the samples using the necessary culture screens and gene-based PCR tests to diagnose the disease.

The team examined the possibility of expanding the tests conducted at GPLN labs to include other pathogens considered to be of public health importance. They focused on soil-transmitted parasitic worms, helminths and Schistosoma. The findings of the study, which was carried out at the Ghana GPLN lab, were published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

PhD student and first author, Lucas Cunningham, said: "The successful campaign waged against polio has eliminated the disease from most countries where it was once endemic, but there remains a group of diseases, namely NTDs, that affect about a billion people.

"We set out to see if these laboratories could be potentially expanded to address the need for a molecular diagnostic platform to NTDs, taking advantage of the Ghanaian lab's accumulated experience and resources."

The pilot study tested 448 faecal samples at the Ghana GPLN lab and successfully tested for helminths, identifying a prevalence of 22% for the combined helminth infections. The researchers noted that the design of the current study was not suitable to make any epidemiological conclusions, however, it was able to demonstrate the suitability of adapting a GPLN lab for the detection of helminths. Although there was no surveillance system, 1% of the samples were found to be infected with Strongyloides.

Dr Emily Adams, senior lecturer in Diagnostics for Infectious Disease and senior author of the paper, commented: "The study demonstrates a potential way forward in the monitoring and control of neglected tropical diseases that could be adapted and included in the legacy plan of the Global Polio Laboratory Network."

She added that the research team was looking forward to working together as they move forward.