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A portable device has been developed that diagnoses infectious diseases
Last reviewed: 08.07.2025
It is well known how quickly infectious diseases can spread, which means that equally fast methods for detecting infections literally in the field must exist and be as accessible as possible, which is critical in the fight against epidemics. Unfortunately, today's testing methods require hours, sometimes days, and often specialized, very expensive and completely immobile equipment. But there is hope that the situation will soon change dramatically.
Jane Wu, a researcher in the Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at the University of Tennessee, and her colleagues have developed a portable device that can be used in the field to detect infectious diseases and pathogens.
The device is within the power of any doctor, it can be used anywhere and under any circumstances. All that is needed is a drop of blood placed on a microchip inside the device.
The microchip is pre-treated with antigens specific to the disease. (Again, as with a glucometer converted to detect viral DNA, it is good if you know what disease you are looking for, but if the person is just coughing and sneezing - which antigen to take, what to look for, how many microchips to try, what will be the cost of a blind selection of options?) An infection that has entered the blood of the test subject (or even a toxin) causes an immune response of the body, which is accompanied by the production of specific antibodies. Next, it is necessary to place the blood, already containing antibodies produced by the immune system, on the microchip with the antigen, and if there is a match (antigen/antibody), the device will tell the doctor that yes, the person is infected (and the type of disease corresponds to the type of antigen used on the microchip). The whole process takes a few minutes. (This is obvious if there is only one option, but how long will the analysis take if the doctor does not know what he is looking for?)
To date, the device has been successfully used to detect tuberculosis in humans and animals, as well as Jonis disease (a specific type of tuberculosis) in cattle.
Jonis disease, a common disease in the United States, costs farmers $200 million annually. Since there is no practical treatment yet, early detection is critical to controlling the spread of the disease on farms, which in turn will help farmers save their livestock (money).
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