This $34 smartphone dongle can test for HIV in just 15 minutes

Researchers at Columbia University havecreated a smartphone accessory capable oftesting for HIV and syphilis. The device ishardly any bigger than your typical phone, isinexpensive to manufacture and can produceresults in a fraction of the time such testingnormally takes.The smartphone accessory was recently put tothe test in a small clinical trial in Kigali,Rwanda. Over the course of two weeks, 96patients from three different health clinicstrialed the unit which simply required patientsto prick their finger to produce a small (onemicroliter) drop of blood.Researchers said the device performed aboutas well as commercially available tools alreadyout in the field in terms of accuracy. The keydifference is in price and time involved.Traditional lab equipment used to test for HIVand syphilis costs over $18,000 while theactual tests cost patients about $8.50combined. The new smartphone dongle can bemade for just $34 and takes only 15 minutesto process results. Existing lab hardware cantake as long as two and a half hours to spitout its findings.What’s more, the device is incredibly energyefficient as it draws power from its hostdevice. In testing with an iPod, researcherswere able to conduct 41 tests before themusic player needed to be recharged.The accessory is seen as a medicalbreakthrough, especially in Africa and otherparts of the developing world where AIDS is amajor problem.