A USB dongle that allows you to perform HIV test within 30 minutes by inserting it in a PC appeared

In the past, a USB dongle was announced, which requires a specialist institution and requires HIV test which took two or three days before the results were obtained, and the results can be known within only 30 minutes It was done.

Scientists have developed a type of HIV test on a USB stick
http://phys.org/news/2016-11-scientists-hiv-usb.html

A USB stick that can test HIV levels in under 30 minutes | TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/10/usb-hiv/

The USB device for HIV testing was announced at the Imperial College LondonDNA ElectronicsIt is a researcher team of the company. With this device, it is possible to examine the numerical level of the HIV virus contained in the blood by just taking a drop of blood.


When doing the test, first pick up a little blood from the patient and put it on the dongle. Then, the chip mounted on the dongle is activated and checks whether HIV virus is present in the blood. Since there is a characteristic that when the HIV virus is present in the blood, there is a characteristic that the acidity of the blood changes, so in this device it measures the acidity of blood and converts it into an electric signal and sends it to the computer, whereby it is possible to measure the numerical level of the HIV virus It is possible to evaluate.

What can be inspected with this dongle is the degree to which HIV - 1 type of virus is present in the blood, and it can be used for examination for patients who are clearly carrying HIV virus mainly It is assumed. It is more appropriate to use diagnostic kits that are already on the market in the case of examination of "whether or not they are infected with HIV" prior to that.

The mainstream current HIV treatment is called "antiretroviral therapy" that suppresses the proliferation of HIV virus (retrovirus), and it is necessary to regularly examine the numerical level of HIV virus in the blood periodically Has become important. Traditionally, when conducting this test it was necessary to collect a patient's blood sample and send it to a specialized agency, which took days to get results. Therefore, there was a problem in conducting adequate measures, especially in the case of patients whose medical institutions were not nearby.

It is this USB dongle that seems to be a solution to such a problem. With this device, it becomes possible for anyone to do the examination in a short time if only with the PC, and by sending the data via the Internet, it becomes possible to perform the treatment from a place far away I will.


The device is still under development, but in the latest survey 991 blood sample tests were carried out, 95% accuracy was confirmed. Also, the average time it took to get results was 20.8 minutes (20 minutes and 48 seconds).