Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is an emerging infectious disease threat that is geographically widespread in Africa and Asia, case fatality rate can reach 80% if not diagnosed and treated on time.
The development of rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) to detect viral antigens, which are present in early stages of the disease, is of high priority as current diagnostics have slow turnaround of results. I aim to develop the first RDT prototype to simultaneously detect viral antigens and IgM antibodies enabling the faster triage of patients in resource-limited settings, where current CCHF diagnostics are inadequate due to their lack of timeliness. This RDT will create a pathway for my future research plans on implementation studies.