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Researchers
at the University of Arizona have come up with a simple and inexpensive method
which can be used to detect trace amounts of norovirus in water samples. the
technique involves a smartphone camera and a microfluidic paper device, and
could help identify sources of norovirus before it can cause disease.
In the USA,
Norovirus causes about 20 million cases of food poisoning a year.
However, the virus is not only responsible for a temporary illness; It can
sometimes lead to death, and is estimated to cause 200,000 deaths worldwide
every year.
The virus often flares through confined areas, such as cruise ships or hospitals, but can also infect whole community water supplies, resulting in widespread illness. 10 virus particles may be enough to make you sick. As a result, the virus can create health problems at very low concentrations in drinking water.
Detection of these low concentrations is possible, but generally requires a variety of expensive laboratory equipment, which means that evaluation of field water samples is usually not practical. . These researchers from the University of Arizona have come up with an inexpensive, portable and practical alternative.
the
technique involves a microfluidic chip made of paper. "The paper substrate is very cheap
and easy to store, and we can make these chips easily, "said Soo Chung, a
researcher involved in the study. "The fibrous structure of the paper also allows
liquid to circulate spontaneously without using the pumping systems of other chips, such as
like silicon chips, generally require. "
A user can
add a sample of water to one end of the paper chip and a small fluorescent tube
polystyrene beads that are dotted with anti-norovirus antibodies at the
other. Antibodies bind to the norovirus particles present in the sample, causing
the pearls to regroup.
These blocks can then be viewed with the help of a smartphone connected to a small, inexpensive microscope with an application capable of counting fluorescent blocks to give an indication of the number of norovirus particles in the # 39; sample. "You do not have to be a scientist or engineer to use the device," Yoon said. "The analysis will be done automatically by the smartphone app, so you only have to worry about loading a sample of water on the chip."
Here is a video of the American Chemical Socity on the new norovirus detector:
Study in ACS Omega: Microfluidic particle physics on paper for Norovirus from environmental water samples taken from a smartphone at the single copy level
Flashback: a vomiting machine proves that we actually aerosolize the norovirus to promote its spread
Via: American Chemical Society
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