📣 For more lifestyle news, click here to join our WhatsApp Channel and also follow us on Instagram
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Imagine finding out whether you have got a sexually transmitted disease by using your mobile phone. Well,your imagination could soon turn into a reality,say British scientists.
A team at the University of London is developing what it claims is a new mobile application which can automatically make an appointment at a sexual health clinic after analysing a urine sample plugged into the phone.
In fact,the self-testing device will instantly diagnose a host of common infections such as chlamydia. Users will urinate on the device like with a pregnancy test and this would then be plugged into a mobile or computer.
Software will analyse the sample,make a diagnosis and recommend a course of action,the ‘Daily Mail’ reported.
The 5.7-million-pound project,called eSTI² (electronic self-testing instruments for STIs),will use nano-technology — advanced technology on a sub-microscopic scale.
Project leader Dr Tariq Sadiq said: “Mobile phones have changed the way we live and communicate,and our team of experts firmly believe that they open up a unique avenue for new ways to diagnose and control STIs.
“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.
“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.
“This kind of system could also speed up the process of communicating infection trends in the population to public health doctors,allowing for quicker responses to outbreaks of an STI.”
The scientists say it could revolutionise treatment of sexual health. Dr Sadiq said: “By making diagnosis easier to access in the community,with immediate results,we aim to reduce infection rates and improve sexual health.”
He said that,potentially,eSTI2 systems could automatically make an appointment with the appropriate GP surgery or sexual health clinic,or send a message to the nearest pharmacy then use GPS to direct the user there,where their prescription will already have been prepared. It could also give options for informing a partner.
The scientists envisaged them being available in pharmacies and perhaps even vending machines. “The required technology is very close to becoming a reality,” said Sadiq.
He added: “But we need to address before we can use devices in the community such as confidentiality and data protection. It will also be vital to have tests that can be easily adapted to detect newly identified STIs,as all causes of sexually transmitted diseases have not been discovered.”
