Needle-free malaria detection tool speeds up disease diagnosis

Malaria is usually detected by a blood test, but scientists have devised a method using a device that sends a beam of infrared light on a person’s ear or finger for five-to-10 seconds to collect an infrared signature that is processed by an algorithm.

International team leader, Dr Maggy Lord from UQ’s School of Biological Sciences, said the technology would ‘revolutionise’ how malaria is fought globally.

“Currently it’s incredibly challenging to test large groups of people, such as the population of a village or town – you have to take blood from everyone and mix it with a reagent to get a result,” Dr Lord said in a statement. “With this tool we can find out very quickly whether a whole village or town is suffering from, or carrying, malaria.

Dr Lord continued: “The technique is chemical-free, needle-free and detects malaria through the skin using infrared-light – it’s literally just a flash on a person’s skin and it’s done. The device is smart-phone operated, so results are acquired in real time.”