Scientists claim to have developed a portable test that can accurately detect low levels of Zika virus in saliva within 40 minutes.
Changchun Liu from University of Pennsylvania and his colleagues have developed the portable diagnostic system which only requires water to operate.
Low-cost diagnostic methods have been reported but cannot detect low levels of the disease or do not distinguish between Zika and similar viruses such as dengue, they argued.
To ensure their system would be highly selective for Zika without confusing it with similar viruses, the researchers looked for and found a stretch of genetic code that is nearly identical for 19 different strains of the Zika virus infecting people in the Americas but not in other pathogens.
If the Zika-specific genetic sequence is in a saliva sample, a dye within the system will turn blue within 40 minutes.
The test even works if low levels of the sequence are present.
The findings were published in Analytical Chemistry .
