Faster and cheaper test to detect Zika

The technology, called loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-Lamp), has the benefit of being simpler than the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) currently used to detect Zika, according to authors of a paper published in Nature Scientific Reports. Edison Durigon, Institute of Biomedical Sciences o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inSciDev.net - Health
Main Author Mendes, Helen
Format Newspaper Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Oxford 01.04.2019
Subjects
Ebola virus
Gene amplification
Laboratories
Mosquitoes
Polymerase chain reaction
Research facilities
Vector-borne diseases
Viruses
Zika virus
United States > US
Brazil
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Summary:The technology, called loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-Lamp), has the benefit of being simpler than the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) currently used to detect Zika, according to authors of a paper published in Nature Scientific Reports. Edison Durigon, Institute of Biomedical Sciences of the University of São Paulo While the PCR test costs around US$10, the new method has an individual cost of around US$ 0.25, said Lindomar Pena, one of the authors of the paper and a researcher at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), a biological sciences research centre in Brazil. Real-time PCR is the gold standard for the detection of the virus, but it requires expensive equipment, specialist staff, and laboratories with good infrastructure, said Pena, adding: “This is not the reality in Brazil.”