Bandage-Like Device Used to Test for Malaria

(Photo: Belova59)
The newly developed device used for testing malaria does not require drawing blood from the patient

Series of tests are usually done as a precaution by experts to save patients from various diseases. For some of the tests, a patient needs to repeat some tests to be very accurate in the result.

Malaria is a severe disease that needs a series of tests to ensure that an individual has indeed acquired the disease. Tests can be bothersome. But did you know that tests for malaria can be as simple as putting on a bandage? Rice University engineers presented a microneedle patch that can be used for rapid diagnostic testing.

According to the engineers behind the bandage-like structure, the device does need to draw blood from the patients. Instead, the device will need biomarkers located in dermal interstitial fluid, which is the fluid inside the blisters.

Peter Lillehoj, an associate professor of Mechanical Engineering at Rice University, said in an interview with Rice University's News and Media Relations that the paper focused on malaria since it is the priority of the one who funded the study. However, he added that the technology could detect other diseases where biomarkers appear as interstitial fluid. Lillehoj added that the disposable patches could be programmed to use or detect COVID-19.

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Interstitial Fluid

According to the Diabetes Community, Interstitial Fluid is a thin layer of fluid that surrounds the body's cells. It is beneficial in the monitoring of glucose levels in people with diabetes. In the interview, Peter Lillehoj also said that the fluid contains many biomarkers for diseases such as malaria that can be used for rapid testing.

How Does The Device Work?

The device developed by lead author Xue Jiang, a rice post-doctoral researcher, delivers a flow test trip on the other. According to the researchers, the patch has 16 hollow microneedles arranged in a four by four on one side and an antibody-based-lateral- flow test strip on the other. They added that the antibodies react when they sense protein biomarkers for malaria and give out two red lines when the patient is positive for malaria and one line otherwise. Once the test is complete, the device can be peeled off like any bandage. The developed patch delivers a result in about 20 minutes, and according to the researchers, does not require medical experts or any equipment.

Lillehoj said that they applied the patch to their skin, and according to them, it does not feel painful compared to the traditional finger prick or drawing of blood. He added that his laboratory is the first to combine microneedles and antibody test strips into a simple and inexpensive package.

Traditional Malaria Tests

As per WebMD, malaria shows symptoms of flu. Getting tested for it can be out of the equation, not knowing that the delay of treatment can lead to death. Some of the tests to find out if a patient is positive for malaria are thick and thin blood smears where a nurse or medical expert will draw some of the blood to get tested and make parasite show, Molecular test that can identify the type of parasite, and antibody test where doctors use this to find out if a patient had malaria in the past and looks for antibody present.

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