Malaria diagnostic tool trialled

Australian scientists have developed a cheap and simple-to-use infra-red technology that could diagnose malaria at the crucial early stages.

While malaria has been eradicated in most developed countries, the mosquito-borne virus still kills more than 600,000 people each year, mostly children.

Monash University’s Bayden Wood, who led the research team, says he hopes the new device will stop the disease spreading.

“If the parasites are only in very small numbers, it’s very hard for the clinician to pick the parasites up looking down a microscope” he told the ABC.

“So we looked at the very early stages, down at the single cell level, and by looking at those red blood cells that were affected, we saw that they had this specific fatty acid signature.

“Then we thought, maybe we can use this for our diagnosis.”

Although significant progress has been made in treating and preventing the spread of the disease, for many, access to life-saving treatment is not a reality.

Wood said the importance of the new infra-red technology is that it doesn’t need any scientists to operate it, it’s inexpensive and can be taken anywhere in the world.

“It’s a standard type of chemistry technique called Attenuated Total Reflection (ATR) spectroscopy, and interestingly enough, these types of machines are available in most chemistry labs,” he said.

“The idea is to take these very portable spectrometers, put them on the back of a motorcycle and take them out into the remote community, do a diagnosis there.

“It’s all automated and that’s the other great advantage of this technique.”

Wood and his team are hoping to carry out clinical tests of the ATR devices in a human trial in Thailand.

He’s hoping the new infrared test could be on the market within a few years.

“Having a technique that you can take out and actually save people’s lives will be very exciting,” Wood said.