International Business Times reports of a startup (called the Disease Diagnostic Group) raised more than $200,000 from investors interested in their new device, capable of diagnosing malaria using magnets and laser light. The devices may be small enough to keep in one hand, cost as low as $300 and have a claimed accuracy of 93% even for infected but asymptomatic persons
The device uses the discovery, published in 2008 by Dave M. Newman and his Exeter University colleagues, on a way to exploit the magneto-optical behaviour of "haemozoin" (also called malaria pigment) a crystalline substance excreted by malaria parasites. When the parasites turn hemoglobin into malaria pigment, it becomes magnetic, unlike any other substances in the human body. Placing an infected blood sample in a magnetic field forces all the crystals to align with the magnetic field. Their collective effect on a polarized light (such as a laser) reveals malaria infection.
Well, my question: with 219 million documented cases of malaria in 2010, why does SN-ers think it needed more than 5 years for the discovery to reach the implementation stage?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Appalbarry on Saturday May 10 2014, @10:51PM
Well, my question: with 219 million documented cases of malaria in 2010, why does SN-ers think it needed more than 5 years for the discovery to reach the implementation stage?
Let me go out on a limb here, and guess that it's mostly poor people in third world countries that get malaria?
And even further out and guess that if rich, middle aged, white guys from Los Angeles were catching malaria, and their insurance was willing to pay a couple hundred dollars a pop for a vaccine or treatment, this would have been solved decades ago.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by davester666 on Saturday May 10 2014, @11:08PM
Sorry, nobody would work on a vaccine. Now, they would only work to develop a pill you have to take regularly for the rest of your life.
(Score: 1) by Lunix Nutcase on Sunday May 11 2014, @12:04AM
Bullshit. New vaccines are being worked on all the time.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 10 2014, @11:13PM
Yes, because rich middle-aged white guys don't suffer any diseases, because clearly any they would get have been solved decades ago.
(Score: 2, Informative) by GmanTerry on Sunday May 11 2014, @05:48AM
I'm a white guy and I have had Malaria six times. I spent eight years in the Ivory Coast, West Africa as a Peace Corps volunteer and then as an Engineer. One reason I caught it so frequently was the arrogance of the American medical community. In Vietnam we, the Americans, developed a once a week preventive pill that was to be taken every Sunday. My European colleagues were given a pill to take daily. In Africa it is difficult to go a full week without consuming contaminated water. Thereafter a loosing of the bowels occurs and the contents of the stomach are passed without being completely digested. If this were to happen to an American on the weekend it is possible to pass the Malaria pill before it was completely digested. Then towards the end of the following week the protection from the pill was gone and sickness ensued. The Europeans, however, took daily pills so the overlap of a "bad day" was covered by the ingestion of a new pill the following day. I don't know if that is still the policy for Americans in the tropics but it was in the mid to late 1970s. African friends told me that they refused to medicate for life and preferred to take their chances. It was a cultural thing at that time.
Since when is "public safety" the root password to the Constitution?
(Score: 2) by tathra on Sunday May 11 2014, @08:37PM
the two primary malaria prophylactics used when i deployed were mefloquine [wikipedia.org] and doxycycline [wikipedia.org]. the former is taken once a week and the latter daily, however mefloquine has serious, serious side effects, such as hallucinations, homicidal rage, etc, while doxy is an antibiotic that does not have side effects that make you kill your family [rense.com]. we were ordered to take mefloquine while i was deployed in 04, but i noticed the subtle visuals as they started and got switched to doxy within a month or two; a lot of other people in my unit noticed the effects (paranoia, memory loss, etc), but never linked it to the mefloquine until i told them. thankfully according to wikipedia, its not in use anymore, but i'm still shocked at how many years of evidence it took for them to stop forcing that shit on people.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by hubie on Saturday May 10 2014, @11:31PM
I'm curious why one would think five years is too long? I'm not sure the article submitter has a realistic expectation of the cycle from basic R&D observation to viable commercial product. TFA mentions that presently there is a field test, that Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) that is essentially like using a litmus strip, you put a drop of blood on a paper test strip and see if it changes color.
From the article:
So the article submitter is asking that, after five years now, why has it taken so long to put together this system that may be as low as $300, but might be as sensitive as a test that currently costs pennies to do?
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday May 11 2014, @02:19AM
What exactly can be unreliable in a permanent magnet, a laser diode and a polarizer?
For sensitivity: the typical LCD TV-es offer a "contrast ratio" of at least 1000:1, many going into 10K:1.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2, Informative) by tftp on Saturday May 10 2014, @11:42PM
why do SN-ers think it needed more than 5 years for the discovery to reach the implementation stage?
Not every discovery can be productized on the very next morning. Nuclear fusion remains a dream many decades after it got discovered and tested in an uncontrolled reaction. You need technology, you need money, and you need the market if you want to productize a scientific discovery.
Existing testing methods do not need large blood samples, or lasers, or magnets. They are paper strips [wikipedia.org], require no batteries, can be carried a thousand per pocket, and require no particular training to administer.
Perhaps these magnetic tests fill the gap between antigen tests and the microscope. Paper strips are bad at measuring the exact level of infection; at the same time, if one is infected then perhaps he should seek further diagnosis and treatment.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by c0lo on Sunday May 11 2014, @01:52AM
Something makes me doubting the "carry them in a pocket" part - as those "pregnancy-tests-like, only for malaria" rely on enzymes: temperature and humidity are bound to have an influence on them.
May be "marketing BS" only, but this TFA [bostonglobe.com] says:
Now, if they are right, carrying a refrigerator in my pocket is the last think I'd want to do when in the jungle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 11 2014, @12:25AM
5 years from discovery to "implementation" in health care is very fast. For drugs it's typically 15 years.