2 - A World-beating TB Detector

[2]
A World-beating TB Detector
[#] P. Patel, "A World-beating TB Detector," IEEE Spectrum: A World-beating TB Detector, spectrum.ieee.org, March 13, 2010. [Online]. Available: http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/devices/a-worldbeating-tb-detector. [Accessed: March 13, 2010].

Researchers at the Center for Systems Biology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School have designed a prototype device that will very simply diagnose whether or not an individual is infected with tuberculosis, an infectious disease that infects a third of the world's population and kills over 2 million people each year. The device, which is a vast improvement in speed, cost, sensitivity and portability over predicate devices, would not require much training. "Just put your sample here; the device will tell you if it's positive or negative," says Diego Kraph, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Colorado State University.

The device is interfaced with a computer which processes data and estimates how much bacteria is present in the sample. The device itself is actually a miniature nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) machine, the physical phenomenon that makes MRI possible. The device measures the rate at which atoms' vibrations decay over time.

A low-cost and portable device such as this one is a fantastic achievement for humanity, particularly in a world where the distribution of tuberculosis is not uniform; approximately 80% of individuals in Asian and African countries test positive for tuberculosis, whereas only 5-10% of individuals in the United States test positive.