Title |
A smartphone dongle for diagnosis of infectious diseases at the point of care
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Published in |
Science Translational Medicine, February 2015
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DOI | 10.1126/scitranslmed.aaa0056 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Tassaneewan Laksanasopin, Tiffany W Guo, Samiksha Nayak, Archana A Sridhara, Shi Xie, Owolabi O Olowookere, Paolo Cadinu, Fanxing Meng, Natalie H Chee, Jiyoon Kim, Curtis D Chin, Elisaphane Munyazesa, Placidie Mugwaneza, Alex J Rai, Veronicah Mugisha, Arnold R Castro, David Steinmiller, Vincent Linder, Jessica E Justman, Sabin Nsanzimana, Samuel K Sia |
Abstract |
This work demonstrates that a full laboratory-quality immunoassay can be run on a smartphone accessory. This low-cost dongle replicates all mechanical, optical, and electronic functions of a laboratory-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) without requiring any stored energy; all necessary power is drawn from a smartphone. Rwandan health care workers used the dongle to test whole blood obtained via fingerprick from 96 patients enrolling into care at prevention of mother-to-child transmission clinics or voluntary counseling and testing centers. The dongle performed a triplexed immunoassay not currently available in a single test format: HIV antibody, treponemal-specific antibody for syphilis, and nontreponemal antibody for active syphilis infection. In a blinded experiment, health care workers obtained diagnostic results in 15 min from our triplex test that rivaled the gold standard of laboratory-based HIV ELISA and rapid plasma reagin (a screening test for syphilis), with sensitivity of 92 to 100% and specificity of 79 to 100%, consistent with needs of current clinical algorithms. Patient preference for the dongle was 97% compared to laboratory-based tests, with most pointing to the convenience of obtaining quick results with a single fingerprick. This work suggests that coupling microfluidics with recent advances in consumer electronics can make certain laboratory-based diagnostics accessible to almost any population with access to smartphones. |
X Demographics
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
United States | 79 | 25% |
United Kingdom | 16 | 5% |
France | 12 | 4% |
Spain | 11 | 4% |
India | 9 | 3% |
Netherlands | 9 | 3% |
Germany | 8 | 3% |
Italy | 6 | 2% |
Australia | 4 | 1% |
Other | 41 | 13% |
Unknown | 118 | 38% |
Demographic breakdown
Type | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Members of the public | 215 | 69% |
Scientists | 49 | 16% |
Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 37 | 12% |
Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 12 | 4% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
United States | 12 | 2% |
Switzerland | 3 | <1% |
Japan | 3 | <1% |
Korea, Republic of | 2 | <1% |
Australia | 2 | <1% |
United Kingdom | 2 | <1% |
Germany | 2 | <1% |
Spain | 2 | <1% |
India | 1 | <1% |
Other | 4 | <1% |
Unknown | 591 | 95% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Student > Ph. D. Student | 157 | 25% |
Researcher | 120 | 19% |
Student > Master | 74 | 12% |
Student > Bachelor | 58 | 9% |
Student > Doctoral Student | 35 | 6% |
Other | 97 | 16% |
Unknown | 83 | 13% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Engineering | 149 | 24% |
Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 78 | 13% |
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 49 | 8% |
Chemistry | 49 | 8% |
Medicine and Dentistry | 48 | 8% |
Other | 140 | 22% |
Unknown | 111 | 18% |