2 dlrs eggbeater can help cut death rates in developing nations

Washington, Oct 16 : Plastic tubing taped to a handheld egg beater can provide a cost effective way of detecting lethal infectious diseases responsible for half of all deaths in developing countries, say researchers.

The low-cost centrifuge replacement can separate plasma from blood in minutes, which is used in tests to detect lethal infectious diseases, could save lives in developing nations.

The research team from Harvard University, US, said that the plasma obtained is easily good enough to use in tests to detect diseases such as Hepatitis B and cysticercosis.

"The object was to separate serum [plasma] from blood using readily-obtained materials in a resource-constrained environment," said lead researcher George Whitesides, of Harvard University.

The equipment can be bought from shops for around two dollars. It needs no special training to use, no electricity or maintenance, and can be sterilised with boiling water and reused.

The user can even prepare several samples at once - just by taping more lengths of tubing to the beater.

"This technique is simple and works remarkably well," says Doug Weibel, an expert in microbiology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, US.

"This technique complements several other 'simple solutions' that the Whitesides group has developed to tackle point-of-care diagnostics in resource-poor settings," he added.

ANI