Credit Card-sized Chip Can Accurately Detect HIV, STDs In 15 Minutes

Researchers have developed a new plastic chip that can detect STDs with just one pinprick of blood within 15 minutes and will cost only one dollar.

Researchers at the University of Columbia in New York have developed a new plastic chip that can detect STDs with just one pinprick of blood within 15 minutes and will cost only one dollar.

The test is being hailed as a breakthrough in the fight against HIV and AIDS in the developing world.

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Roughly the size of a credit card, the mChip has proved almost 100 percent accurate in testing for HIV in Rwanda.

"The idea is to make a large class of diagnostic tests accessible to patients in any setting in the world, rather than forcing them to go to a clinic to draw blood and then wait days for their results," the Daily Mail quoted lead researcher Professor Samuel Sia, as saying.

The mChip uses optics to read fluids by taking a single pinprick of blood.

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It contains 10 detection zones, which the blood passes through and then returns a positive or negative result for HIV/AIDS or syphilis in about 15 minutes.

The result is presented in a simple colour-coded manner similar to a pregnancy test, making it extremely easy to use and understand.

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Source-ANI

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