A new on-the-spot test for COVID-19, the flu and other diseases has been developed by researchers in the United States and Australia with the potential to return results in as little as five minutes.
The process uses a vortex fluidic device developed at Adelaide's Flinders University that conducts protein biomarker assay testing to identify infections.
It can test for hundreds proteins at a time with the data produced able to be read using a smart phone.
While many costly tests can take upwards of 48 to 72 hours, on-the-spot tests such as this can lead to accurate diagnosis and the early start of important drug treatments.
In an assessment published on Monday in international chemistry journal Angewandte Chemie, the new method was found to be superior to other biomarker-based tests currently in use.
Not only was the processing fast and accurate, it also sliced up to 70 per cent off the cost of sometimes toxic reagents, the report said.
It cut processing time from hours to less than five minutes.
