Low-cost smartphone accessory detects HIV in 15 minutes

MANILA, Philippines –  Philippines is one of the eight countries with most cases of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) cases.  According to Department of Health data, a staggering number of 66 people died from the disease last year.

With the escalating number of people getting infected with HIV, Medical researchers from Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science came up with a low-cost smartphone accessory that can perform a point-of-care test that simultaneously detects HIV and syphilis, from a finger prick of blood in just 15 minutes.

According to the study, the device, called "dongle," is the first ever device which can perform functions of a lab-based blood test. All the power necessary to perform the test is drawn from the smartphone itself. 

"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, and also the leader of the research.

The accessory was recently tested by health care workers in Rwanda to the 96 patients who were enrolling into prevention-of-mother-to-child-transmission clinics or voluntary counseling and testing centers.

According to Science Daily report, the “dongle” will have a manufacturing cost of $34, much lower than the the typical cost of testing, which is $18,450.