Target product profile for a rapid test for diagnosis of mycetoma at primary health-care level

Overview

Mycetoma is caused by at least 70 different microorganisms of fungal or bacterial origin. Fungal mycetoma (eumycetoma) is most often caused by Madurella mycetomatis, Scedosporium boydii and Falciformispora senegalensis. Bacterial mycetoma (actinomycetoma) is most often caused by Actinomadura madurae, Streptomyces somaliensis, Actinomadura pelletieri, Nocardia brasiliensis and Nocardia asteroides. Although mycetoma is reported in 102 countries, its etiology differs by region. M. mycetomatis, S. somaliensis and A. pelletieri are highly prevalent in Africa and Asia but hardly found in South America. In South America, N. brasiliensis is by far the commonest causative agent, but this species is very rarely encountered in the rest of the world. Only A. madurae has been found to be prevalent on all continents.

A hallmark of mycetoma is visible grains. The colour of the grain depends on the causative agent. Generally, eumycetoma causative agents form black (M. mycetomatis, F. senegalensis) or white (S. boydii) grains, whereas actinomycetoma causative agents cause white (Nocardia spp., Actinomadura madurae), yellow (Streptomyces spp.) or red (Actinomadura pelletieri) grains .