Tracking AIDS in 15 minutes with your smartphone is now possible!

Columbia University researchers have developed a smartphone accessory to screen for HIV and Syphilis in just 15 minutes.

Thanks to the multiplication of sensors and smart health connected objects, the advent of smart health connected health allows everyone to be able to use their data to analyze their health using the intelligence of their smartphones. This is precisely the principle followed by Samuel Sia, professor at Columbia University in New York and main author of this invention:

" Our work shows that a complete laboratory analysis can be performed by a smartphone accessory"

The miniature device successfully reproduces the mechanical, electronic and optical functions of a laboratory analysis system allowing to screen for HIV and Syphilis in 15 minutes and, according to the researchers, with great reliability.

The device has already been tested on around 100 patients in Rwanda as part of a campaign to prevent mother-to-child AIDS transmission. This system, inexpensive and uses little electricity (uses energy from the Smartphone), can be most effective in some developing countries where access to electricity and healthcare is not easy.

The principle of operation of the accessory is quite simple. The latter allows first take a drop of blood of the individual. Thanks to its internal detectors, it therefore collects data on the blood drop taken. smart health connected to the user's smartphone, the accessory transmits the raw data to a application who analyzes them before giving his verdict. Discover the steps necessary to operate the device through a ehealth:

Price and availability

We do not yet know how much the accessory will be sold. We know that it can be made at a factory cost of 30 euros, significantly less than 16,000 euros equivalent equipment, the researchers said.

source: Belga / image: Tassaneewan Laksanasopin