A group of U.K. health professionals is developing a cheap, widely available test for sexually transmitted diseases that you can administer privately through your mobile phone.
The test involves peeing or spitting onto a special computer chip and plugging it into your phone for analysis. Test results for common STDs, like gonorrhea, Chlamydia and herpes, will appear in minutes. The software also has the potential to include treatment recommendations and directions to your nearest doctor.
The project is called eSTI² ("electronic Self-Testing Instruments for STIs") and is being developed by a consortium of hospitals in the U.K., thanks to a £4 million ($6.4 million) grant from The Medical Research Council and UK Clinical Research Collaboration.
According to lead scientist Tariq Sadiq, a professor at the University of London, the test aims to give people no excuses not to get tested.
"Currently, if you want to know if you have an infection, your sample is usually sent to a laboratory and the results come back in a few days," he said in a press release. "Imagine how much more likely you would be to get tested if you could test yourself away from a clinic and have an on-the-spot, accurate result, but still let a doctor or pharmacist know within minutes that you may need treatment."
The test is also geared towards tech-savvy youths who may be too shy or lazy to get tested. Tariq said he plans to make the tests as widely accessible as they are cheap: he hopes to distribute the tests in nightclub vending machines, pharmacies, and supermarkets for as little as 50p ($0.80) each, according to The Guardian.
The technology is "very close to becoming a reality," Tariq said in the release, but appears to be hindered by implmentation issues such as privacy and confidentiality matters, as well as enabling a robust architecture that allows it to capture yet-to-be-identified STDs.
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