[28] In order for the next generation of rapid diagnostic tests to see the sort of proliferation and widespread use observed in malaria RDTs, the identification of a new suite of disease biomarkers is essential. and the global health community must be engaged in championing the broader use of RDTs. Keywords: Rapid diagnostic tests, infectious disease, immunochromatography, point-of-care, global health 1. Introduction In 2010 2010, approximately 10 million deaths worldwide were attributed to bacterial, viral or parasitic infections, and the vast majority of this mortality occurred in developing countries. [1] In part, this disproportionately heavy burden is due to the higher rates of disease incidence observed in low-income settings, which are causally linked to local consequences of poverty, such as abundant disease vectors, poor nutrition, limited access to sanitation and health education, and environmental determinants like indoor air pollution. However, the high rates of morbidity and mortality inflicted by these diseases are due to more systemic failings namely, underdeveloped health infrastructure and severely limited financial resources that render communities and individuals incapable of bridging this health care gap. Surveys conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) have found that 72% of the African populace and 42% of the Asian populace is served by minimal or no infrastructure. [2] Under these conditions, the supply of electricity and clean water is either unreliable or nonexistent, local medical supplies and laboratory equipment are limited or totally unavailable, and medical staff are minimally trained or altogether absent. In many of these settings, the trappings of a modern and effective health system vaccines, chemical prophylactics, therapeutics, informed medical consultation, and accurate diagnostic tests are largely inaccessible luxuries, available only in distant, centralized clinics. In such resource-constrained situations, the mere act of seeking diagnosis for a nascent condition can prove prohibitively expensive. For instance, in MSN low- and middle-income countries, the average medical expenses and income losses faced by tuberculosis (TB) patients over the course of treatment can amount to more than 50% of their average annual income, and half of this cost is incurred in the process of seeking diagnosis. [3] In the absence of local community clinics, patients are forced to travel to regional clinics to seek medical consultation, and up until the roll-out of GeneXpert nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) in 2010 2010, the most sensitive means for diagnosing TB required 6C8 weeks of cell culture and a follow-up visit. [4] During this time, patient conditions can worsen, friends and A 943931 2HCl family can be infected, and presumptive A 943931 2HCl treatment can be initiated, increasing the risk of spreading drug resistance. [5] For vast swathes of the global population, however, diagnostic consultation never even occurs. In 2012, for instance, the WHO estimates that 34% of all incident cases of tuberculosis 2.9 million new infections went undiagnosed, or were not reported to a central authority. [4] In the same year, approximately 36% of all incident cases of malaria 74.5 million new infections are thought to have gone undetected. [6] Diagnostic gaps such as these pose a severe threat to global health, inflicting heavy tolls of morbidity and mortality upon low-income communities, wasting valuable medical and financial resources on inappropriate medicines, and allowing infectious diseases to continue to proliferate unchecked. Low-cost diagnostics A 943931 2HCl made available at the point-of-care (POC) have been heralded as a means of closing these diagnostic gaps, by providing patients and local health care practitioners with timely, accurate and actionable diagnostic data A 943931 2HCl that can inform clinical decisions and ultimately improve patient outcomes. These broadly distributed diagnostic resources also play a crucial role in preventing the further spread of drug resistance, and are critical for creating the accurate epidemiological models needed to efficiently direct resource distribution and elimination campaigns. Rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) are leading candidates to fill this point-of-care diagnostic niche. RDTs are A 943931 2HCl diagnostic assays which can rapidly indicate the presence of pathogens or pathogen-associated biomarkers in patient samples. For the purpose of this review, we will focus on the most commonly employed form of RDT, immunochromatographic test strips. These tests, also referred to as lateral flow assays, use membrane-immobilized affinity agents to screen for the presence of antigens in peripheral patient fluids. The presence of the targeted antigen in a patient sample.