Now here is a medical device that would surely make life a whole lot easier for folks working in a medical lab all day long, who diagnoses blood samples sent in for a variety of diseases, where among them would include HIV. Known as the mChip, it is a specially concocted device that requires all but a single finger prick in order to diagnose the HIV status of a particular patient in a matter of minutes. How does this work? Well, the mChip will analyze the blood sample before sending off its data to a medical records database in the cloud. Developed by Columbia University professor Samuel Sia, Sia mentioned, “The idea was to make a large class of diagnostic tests accessible to patients in any setting in the world, rather than forcing them to go to a clinic to draw blood and then wait days for their results.”
When tested with patients in Rwanda, it was reliably reported that the mChip achieved a near 100% accuracy level, which is an amazing achievement for a device that comes in a form factor that is not too far off from a regular credit card. Normally, it takes days or weeks for the result to arrive since samples need to be ferried over to an outside lab. The mChip negates the need to do so, which is a good, nay, great thing.
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