Fast, cheap and safe analysis of HIV and syphilis. U.S. scientists have developed a micro lab that can help poor countries to fight infectious diseases. But Swedish scientists are close behind with an even more sensitive instruments.

 

 

Over the past ten years, a number of sophisticated micro-lab developed. It analyzes the fluid in circles, smaller than a credit card. But until now they have been expensive to produce. It may be about to change since scientists at the American University of Columbia, New York, has managed to develop cheaper methods to produce circuits on. The result is a "lab-on-a-chip" that in less than 15 minutes to provide answers to whether a person is infected with HIV, syphilis, or even have both diseases. In this case, antibiotics and antiretroviral drugs should be initiated.

 

The equipment is primarily intended to be used for testing pregnant women at risk of transferring diseases to the fetus.

 

The researchers have tested the instrument in a hundred patients in Rwanda, which is hard hit by HIV, and compared it with the results from the more expensive standard methods used in today's large laboratories. These include ELISA method. The studies show that the reliability is equal to the new and cheaper method.

 

According to researcher Sameul Sia of Columbia University are the instrument as easy to use as a mobile, and will also cost about as such. The production cost for each analysis chip is currently around six dollars.

 

But Swedish scientists are at the forefront in terms of rapid and cheaper methods of analysis. Martin Hedstrom and his colleagues at Lund University has developed a new ultra-sensitive measurement techniques including the HIV virus. The method is 500 to 1000 times more sensitive than current analytical techniques - including the one now being presented by researchers at the University of Columbia.

 

Our method measures the presence of a protein, a viral marker, which is released from the HIV virus surface, said Martin Hedstrom. It is possible to find after a week or two with an infected person.

 

Other methods measure the amount of antibodies, and they take longer to develop. This is about months.

 

Lund researchers measurement technology has been recognized by the FDA, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. This fall, they shall jointly test the Swedish method.

 

At present there is a demonstrator, the size of a shoebox, but a prototype is under way.

 

Within one year, we expect that an instrument can be on the market. We are at the forefront of design, as it is to be for now.

 

The first goal is a stand-alone equipment to be used for the analysis of different viruses and toxins in hospitals and health centers. According to Martin Hedstrom, they work even in the field adjust the instrument.

 

We see that the instrument has potential for use as a smaller, cheaper and easy to use instruments sometimes other things in Africa.

 

Micro lab and test results from the University of Columbia are presented in the latest issue of the journal Nature Medicine.