Fast and affordable field test could help fight against malaria

In a paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from universities in Scotland and China, working with the Ugandan Ministry of Health, describe how their folded paper, prepared with a printer and a hot plate, has helped detect malaria with 98 per cent sensitivity in infected participants from two primary schools in Uganda.

Malaria affects over 219 million people in 90 countries and in 2017 the disease killed 435,000 people. Arresting and reversing the spread of the disease requires diagnosis in people who are infected but who do not display any symptoms. This problem can only be addressed by widespread field tests but current assessments, , which rely on PCR (polymerase chain reaction), can only be carried out under lab conditions.

Led by researchers from Glasgow University, the team developed a new approach to diagnostics that uses paper to prepare patient samples for a different type of detection process known as LAMP (loop-mediated isothermal amplification), which is more portable and better-suited for field use.