LONDON, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Reliable field tests for malaria can be a reality with a simple folded sheets of waxed paper, according to a study released on Tuesday by the University of Glasgow.
To stop the spread of the malaria, medical professionals need to diagnosing it in people who are infected but who do not display any symptoms. But, current tests, which rely on a process known as polymerase chain reaction, can only be carried out under laboratory conditions, making them unsuited for use in remote locations.
A team, led by researchers from the University of Glasgow in partnership with Shanghai Jiao Tong University and the Ministry of Health in Uganda, have developed a new approach to diagnostics.
They use paper to prepare patient samples for a different type of detection process known as loop-mediated isothermal amplification, or LAMP, which is more portable and better-suited for use in the field.
Researchers use a commercially-available printer to coat the paper in patterns made from water-resistant wax, which is then melted on a hotplate, bonding the wax to the paper.
A blood sample taken from a patient via fingerprick is placed on in a channel in the wax, then the paper is folded, directing the sample into a narrow channel and then three small chambers which a machine uses to test the samples' DNA for evidence of Plasmodium falciparum, the mosquito-borne parasitic species which causes malaria.
The test can be completed on-site in less than 50 minutes, according to the team.
"Our diagnostic approach correctly diagnosed malaria in 98 percent of the infected samples we tested, markedly more sensitive than both the microscopy and lateral flow tests, which delivered 86 percent and 83 percent respectively, " said Professor Jonathan Cooper of the University of Glasgow, who is the lead author of the study.
