This new test for STDs is being designed as a cheap and widely available solution, which can be privately administered through a regular mobile phone. The process involves peeing or spitting onto a specially designed computer chip, and then plugging it into your phone for detailed software analysis.
This technology has the potential to revolutionise the testing of STDs, with results for a number of diseases appearing within minutes. Some of the common diseases able to be tested this way include gonorrhea, chlamydia, and herpes, although amazingly, this technology works in a way that it will also be able to recognise some yet-to-be-identified STDs.
Lead scientist Tariq Sadiq from the University of London has said that this test gives people no excuse to not get tested. In a recent press release, Mr Sadiq said “Currently, if you want to know if you have an infection, your sample is usually sent to a laboratory and the results come back in a few days,” adding “Imagine how much more likely you would be to get tested if you could test yourself away from a clinic and have an on-the-spot, accurate result, but still let a doctor or pharmacist know within minutes that you may need treatment.”
The project, called eSTI (electronic self-testing instruments for STIs), is being developed in the UK through a number of hospitals and institutions, with the help of funding from the Medical Research Council and UK Clinical Research Collaboration. The technology is “very close to becoming a reality,” according to Tariq, who is hoping to have these tests available soon in vending machines, pharmacies, and supermarkets for as little as 50p each.
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