USB Stick Performs HIV Test; Measures Virus in Blood Accurately in 30 Minutes
Scientists have always been mulling over of a new thing that would be beneficial to mankind. Currently, scientists in United Kingdom have designed a unique USB stick. The USB has a special feature that could quickly and accurately measure the amount of HIV in the patient's blood.
Scientists at the private tech firm DNA Electronics and at the Imperial College London created this wonderful, medical device.
In order to use this, the USB stick would just simply need a drop of blood. Once the blood has penetrated to the USB, it would immediately measure HIV-1 levels. Then it would formulate an electrical signal which would directly transmit into a computer, laptop, and other devices, Gizmodo cited.
Patients who would like to track their own treatment could use the USB stick through a superfluous test. This device would be a great help to patients who live in remote areas. Most treatments and standardized HIV tests are out of reach in the isolated places.
It has shown in the Scientific Reports journal that the USB stick performs well and provides a highly accurate result. The most interesting potential of the stick would really amaze anyone for the reason that it could produce a result below 30 minutes.
At present, if a person would like to know if his blood carries an HIV, he needs to wait for three days after submitting his blood sample to the lab. Three days would be a long wait and the patients' anxieties will be prolonged as well. Whereas, in the latest research, there were 9991 blood samples that the USB stick has tested. It has shown a 95 percent accuracy and the result was just produced with an average time of 21 minutes.
Its quick analysis was due to the process that the blood had undergone through the USB stick. As soon as the blood has settled in the USB stick's spot, it would sense the HIV-1 virus through a change in acidity levels. A mobile phone chip could even convert the data from the USB stick into an electrical signal. The stick would then feed the app on a phone or a computer with the result.
However, the newly-created device is at its early stage, as for now, patients could enjoy it for it allows them to regularly keep track their virus levels. This resembles the way diabetic people monitor their blood sugar levels. As for now, HIV treatment reduces virus levels to nearly zero. Sometimes, the anti-retroviral medication ceased to work, due to the HIV virus that has been immune to drugs.
Moreover, the new USB stick has the ability to detect the increase in HIV levels. It could also indicate potential problem with meds or therapy of a patient. Graham Cooke, lead author of the study stressed out in a statement that viral load is crucial to the success of HIV treatment. He further iterated that at the moment, testing is quite expensive and apparatus and devices are complicated which run a couple of days to provide a result, Reuters cited.
Cooke added that they have taken the job done by the equipment, which has the size of a large photocopier and shrunk it down to a USB chip.The team has investigated the probability of the device to test for hepatitis and other viruses.
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