Schematic diagram of all priming sites used in STEM-LAMP with two sets of multiplexed Stem primers (a): a comparison of LAMP performance in the absence and presence of Stem primers for 10, 1000 and 100,000 copies of genomic Clostridium difficile DNA target (b): in the absence of Stem primers—blue, in the presence of Stem primers set 1—pink, Stem primers set 2—rose, multiplexed Stem primers sets 1 and 2—purple (all dilutions were measured and detected in triplicate unless indicated otherwise). Final primers concentrations were: Cd-BIP, mCd-FIP, Cd-StemB1, Cd-StemF1, Cd-StemB2 and Cd-StemF2—1.6 μM each, Cd-DisplB and mCd-DisplF—0.4 μM each. Each set of data included three NTCs that remained clean throughout the duration of the assay and were not associated with any time-to-peak value (hence not shown graphically). Error bars represent standard deviations of triplicate measurements.