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Background  Diagnostic procedures for the diagnosis of infection with the nematode parasite  Onchocerca volvulus  are currently based on the microscopic detection of microfilariae in skin biopsies. Alternative approaches based on amplification of parasitic DNA in these skin biopsies are currently being explored. Mostly this is based on the detection of the O-150 repeat sequence using PCR based techniques.    Methods  An isothermal, loop-mediated amplification method has been designed using the mitochondrial  O. volvulus cox 1 gene as a target.    Results  Analysis of dilution series of synthetic DNA containing the targeted sequence show a non-linear dose-response curve, as is usually the case for isothermal amplification methods. Evaluation of cross-reactivity with the heterologous sequence from the closely related parasites  Wuchereria bancrofti ,  Loa loa  and  Brugia malayi  demonstrated strong specificity, as none of these sequences was amplified. The assay however amplified both  O. volvulus  and  O. ochengi  DNA, but with a different melting point that can be used to discriminate between the species. Evaluation of this assay in a set of skin snip biopsies collected in an endemic area in Ghana showed a high correlation with O-150 qPCR and also demonstrated a similar sensitivity. Compared to qPCR, LAMP had a sensitivity of 88.2% and a specificity of 99.2%.    Conclusions  We have developed a sensitive and specific loop-mediated amplification method for detection of  O. volvulus  DNA in skin biopsies that is capable of providing results within 30 min.    Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13071-016-1913-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

An isothermal DNA amplification method for detection of Onchocerca volvulus infection in skin biopsies