The Rapid Micro Blog


Our blog will keep you informed of new and noteworthy technologies, reviews of recent publications and presentations, upcoming conferences and training events, and what's changing in the rapid and alternative microbiological methods world.

A mobile phone app that detects STDs!


This just in from the UK-based newspaper, The Guardian. People will soon be able to tell if they have an STD by urinating on a small computer chip and inserting it into a mobile phone or computer, doctors and scientists in Britain claim. The small devices, similar to pregnancy testing kits, will reportedly be able to give people a home diagnosis within minutes. Millions of pounds have been poured into the project to combat an STD epidemic in Britain, where infections reached a record 482,696 last year. The research has been given the thumbs up by Professor Noel Gill, the head of HIV and STIs at the British government's Health Protection Agency, who said he hoped the application of new technology would reduce infections among young people. The HPA would coordinate large-scale evaluations of the technology within a network of collaborating STI clinics.

"Your mobile phone can be your mobile doctor. It diagnoses whether you've got one of a range of STIs, such as chlamydia or gonorrhea and tells you where to go next to get treatment," Dr Tariq Sadiq, the sexual health expert from the University of London who is leading the project. The developers of the rapid testing devices - which include experts in microbiology and phone operators like O2 - expected them to be sold for a pound each in vending machines in nightclubs, pharmacies and supermarkets.

I am aware of at least one RMM company that is able to control their technology via a mobile device, so this type of communication platform is certainly a viable opportunity for the industry.


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