This new device can diagnose Malaria in minutes

By Kate Hassett

This new device can diagnose Malaria in minutes
Game changer: How this one device can change the way we treat Malaria

According the World Health Organisation, 3.2 billion people a year, are at risk of contracting Malaria. There are an astounding amount of cases diagnosed every year, with nearly 200 million reporting symptoms and one child dying every minute from the disease.

The inability for quick and cost effective diagnoses in developing countries has led to the rapid spread of infection across the globe.

John Lewandowski, co-founder and CEO of Disease Diagnostics Group, has invented a way, he hopes will combat the spread and help to eradicate the disease entirely.

The device, still in the prototype phase, works by detecting iron levels in a patient’s blood, using magnets and allowing results to be delivered much faster than current diagnostic methods.

Because the parasites that cause malaria consume red blood cells, but are unable to digest the iron in them, the test bypasses the usual microscopic testing.

The device itself only costs $250 to make and is entirely portable and reusable – making it perfect for transporting to rural locations.

Currently, the prototype is being tested by the U.S Navy in peru.

“This company will be focused on tracking all of these infections to help organizations make decisions and finally build a patient database and healthcare system for the developing world,” Lewandowski told Mic. 

This device is one of the first that Lewandowski and his team hope to create in an attempt to produce cost-effective and accessible ways to treat disease across the world.

“I would love to see not only the average lifetime of people in developing countries increase due to lower death rate through earlier detection, and then subsequently eradication or isolation of major infectious diseases,”

 

 

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