New HIV blood test uses smartphone battery

New HIV blood test uses smartphone battery

09/02/2015

Columbia University researchers in New York have developed a new device that can detect HIV or syphilis infection within 15 minutes. As a source of energy, only a smartphone is needed.

Detect infection within 15 minutes
A novel pocket-sized blood test can detect HIV or syphilis infection within 15 minutes. As the news agency dpa reports, the small device only needs a standard smartphone as an energy source to display the test results. The researchers around Samuel Sia of Columbia University in New York write in the journal „Science Translational Medicine“, that they designed the device specifically for areas around the world where electricity is not permanently available.

Many HIV-infected people lack access to treatment or testing
In order to diagnose diseases such as HIV or syphilis, so far expensive and expensive tests were necessary, which could be performed only in hospitals or health centers. A difficult situation, with two-thirds of all people living with HIV and AIDS living in southern Africa, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), and therefore in most cases lacking access to treatment or reliable testing. As a result, many sufferers are not even aware of their disease, which further aggravates the AIDS problem in developing countries.

A drop of blood from the fingertip is enough
For the new test device already a tiny amount of blood from the fingertip of the patient. This blood sample is diluted onto a disposable cassette and placed in the device. The test then detects an HIV antibody as well as two different syphilis antibodies. Part of the energy required comes from the speaker or headphone jack of the smartphone. „The speaker jack on the phone is enough to power the entire analysis process, including washing and data transfer“, so the researchers.

mortality „reduce tenfold“
As a result, this mini lab can also be used in places where there is no regulated power supply. „If we detect more syphilis infections early on, we can reduce deaths from this disease tenfold“, writes senior author Sia. In an untreated syphilis infection, the pathogens spread more and more in the long term in the body and also affect organs. With an early diagnosis and immediately initiated therapy there are certainly good chances of recovery. Possible signs of an infection are initially reddish ulcers on the genital organs and after about two months sufferers usually suffer from flu-like symptoms, such as fever, headache and body aches. In addition, the lymph nodes swell and it develops an itchy rash. HIV could also be detected and treated more quickly in the future by the mini-laboratories linked to the mobile phone, which would be a new opportunity, especially in developing countries, to stop the rapid spread of the disease.

One battery charge is sufficient for 41 tests
The suitability of the devices had already been tested in a clinic in Rwanda according to the researchers. There, it had been shown that 41 patients could be tested for HIV and syphilis with a fully charged smartphone and infected minilab. In order to verify the accuracy and reliability of the device, the scientists had examined a second blood sample of the subjects in the laboratory whose infection status was previously unknown: „With a sensitivity of 92 to 100 percent and a specificity of 79 to 100 percent, the results of our triple test met those of the medical gold standard“, the researchers report.
Production price of only 34 US dollars

It also showed that the test reagents lasted up to six months, which is an important aspect against the background of potential use in developing countries. Because this causes the new test device with a production price of around 34 US dollars significantly less cost than a normal laboratory equipment, which would normally cost about 20,000 US dollars. Now, according to the researchers, a larger study is planned, which will hopefully help WHO quickly approve the new device so that it can be deployed as soon as possible in the affected regions. „This work shows that the coupling of microfluidics with recent advances in consumer electronics could enable certain laboratory-based diagnoses for virtually any population with smartphone access“, so the researchers. (no, ad)

Picture: Cristine Lietz