A new smartphone accessory allows users to prick their fingers and test for three infectious diseases in only 15 minutes.
The invention performs an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) without the need for stored energy since all of the power is drawn from the electronic device, Columbia University School of Engineering reported. It effectively tests for the HIV antibody, treponemal-specific antibody for syphilis, and non-treponemal antibody for active syphilis infection.
The "dongle" easily connects to one's smartphone or computer. It was recently tested on 96 patients in Rwanda who were enrolled in enrolling into prevention-of-mother-to-child-transmission clinics or voluntary counseling and testing centers.
"Our work shows that a full laboratory-quality immunoassay can be run on a smartphone accessory," said Samuel K. Sia, associate professor of biomedical engineering at Columbia Engineering. "Coupling microfluidics with recent advances in consumer electronics can make certain lab-based diagnostics accessible to almost any population with access to smartphones. This kind of capability can transform how health care services are delivered around the world."
During the field testing health care workers were given 30 minutes of training to work the dongle's user-friendly interface. About 97 percent of the patients said they would recommend the dongle because of its quick results and ability to test for multiple diseases at once.
"Our dongle presents new capabilities for a broad range of users, from health care providers to consumers," Sia said. "By increasing detection of syphilis infections, we might be able to reduce deaths by 10-fold. And for large-scale screening where the dongle's high sensitivity with few false negatives is critical, we might be able to scale up HIV testing at the community level with immediate antiretroviral therapy that could nearly stop HIV transmissions and approach elimination of this devastating disease."
The innovation was reported in a recent edition of the journal Science Translational Medicine.
