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Technoscience

Rapid test for dengue fever

Test strip indicates the results in up to 25 minutes with just one drop of blood

Léo RamosTest strip indicates the results in up to 25 minutes with just one drop of bloodLéo Ramos

New tests based on different types of nanoparticles and consisting of a small narrow white strip are able to detect the early stages of dengue infection.  By simply placing blood on the strip, the results appear in up to 25 minutes.  The test is done by means of three layers.  The first layer filters blood plasma from the sample, and when there is an infection, the test detects the proteins released by the virus.  Specific antibodies present in the second layer attach themselves to these proteins and as they pass through to the third layer, they are shown by a colored mark that comes from the nanoparticles, confirming the presence of the dengue virus.  “We have incorporated other types of commercial test markers that have given us greater diagnostic capability,” says Elisângela Linares, who developed the test during her doctoral studies at the Ludwig Maximilians Universität & Helmholtz Zentrum München, in Germany, in collaboration with Professor Lauro Kubota of the Chemistry Institute of the University of Campinas.

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