Malaria tests now in 10 secs at Rs 10: All you need to know about this kit

Testing system has accuracy of 90%; can also be developed for other diseases, including dengue

A mobile phone mounted with a super-cheap paper microscope can detect the presence of malarial parasites in the blood in 10 seconds, says an Indian researchers' team, which has developed a system that archives data and maps the real-time distribution of the disease in a particular locality. 

Dubbed "Centaur", the framework for detection, monitoring and mitigation of the deadly disease has been created by Nilanjan Daw, Debapriya Paul and Nilanjana Dutta Roy from Institute of Engineering and Management, in collaboration with Arindam Biswas of IIEST, Shibpur.(health news)

It aims to eradicate human error, enhance diagnosis in remote areas and enable treatment as fast as possible.

Here are 10 key highlights of how the device works:

Every patient will incur a cost of only Rs 10 for each test against a drop of blood taken from the tip of his finger.

The remote testing facility will give results within 10-12 seconds and provide a hard copy of the report and the case details are archived for future reference.The testing system has an accuracy of 90 per cent. The algorithm can also be developed for other diseases, including dengue.

 The set-up uses a paper microscope, also known as 'foldscope', which is an optical microscope that can be assembled from simple components, including paper and lens.

 When you adjust the camera a little, Foldscope, with the help of a mobile camera, clicks a magnified image (enabled by the microscope) of the blood sample and that image is stored by the camera.....READ MORE