Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, November 2. A international research team uses a new type of portable laser equipment to achieve non -blood detection of malaria without using blood, which is expected to significantly change this infectious disease detection status.
At present, the malaria testing method used in clinical medicine needs to be used with blood samples, and there are different limitations in actual use.Researchers from the School of Public Health of Yale University in the United States cooperated with the University of Arkansas with Cameroon to use portable laser equipment named Cytophone to target laser and through targeted laser and Cells infected with malaria.
The research team published a paper introducing in the British "Nature · Communication" magazine that the size of the device is equivalent to a desktop printer, and a non -invasive small probe of the device is placed in the device. On the venous blood vessels on the back of the test, it only takes a few minutes to detect whether there are cells infected with malaria infection in the vascular.
After the human body is infected with Plasmine, the red blood cells in the blood will accumulate an by -product called malaria pigment. These malaria pigments in the infected cells have unique magnetic and optical characteristics. When laser irradiation, they absorb more energy than normal hemoglobin, so that the device can detect infected cells.
The research team said that in the test of adult malaria patients in Cameroon, the sensitivity of this new type of equipment was 90%and the specificity was 69%. In the current clinical medicine The common methods of malaria detection are equivalent.However, the current detection methods require blood samples and special laboratory equipment.
The research team believes that the new method provides a "reliable, safe and sensitive" detection method.This is particularly important for low and medium -income countries that are plagued by malaria, and it is expected to greatly change global malaria testing.(End)
