The number of drug-resistant malaria cases is increasing — posing a serious world health threat.
The number of drug-resistant malaria cases is increasing — posing a serious world health threat. Two University of Calgary scientists believe they have a way to combat the rise in mosquito-borne illnesses with a new, fast, and efficient way to diagnosis the drug-resistant form of the disease in its earliest stage.
Dr. Dylan Pillai and Abu Naser Mohon, PhD candidate, members of the Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases at the Cumming School of Medicine (CSM) have developed an inexpensive field test that can be performed anywhere, without the need for electricity or specialized lab equipment. The kit is portable and battery powered. Results are available in an hour, allowing health-care workers to administer the right treatment to patients sooner.
“This test is very sensitive, up to 1,000 times more sensitive than traditional tests involving the use of labs and microscopes,” says Pillai, associate professor at the CSM. “Part of the problem with drug-resistant malaria is that current tests can’t diagnose the disease early on and confirming the diagnosis can take days or even weeks. Those people with drug-resistant infections often get the wrong treatment, get sicker, and sometimes die.”
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Image via University of Calgary.
