There is no need for diabetics to have themselves pricked thousands of times throughout their lives for blood samples. The amount of glucose in their blood can be established by the ‘Spit Test’, said US-based medical scientists Charles T. Roberts Jr. and Srinivas R. Nagalla.
Mr. Roberts Jr. is the co-founder of DiabetOmics Inc and Dr. Srinivas is president and CEO of DiabetOmics. They said that technology had developed in leaps and bounds but the science of diagnostics had not changed at the same rate. A saliva test had been developed for the HIV too.Just like a pregnancy test, anyone could find out if they had diabetes with the Spit Test. Gestation Diabetes was a major problem in women and it also had an impact on the child that was born. With the early warning the Spit Test provided preventive steps could be initiated to safeguard the child, Dr. Srinivas said.
The NIMS Department of Endocrinology head P.V. Rao said that the Spit Test was comparatively expensive, but the team had a plan to make it available at four times lesser price in India so that it was within the reach of everyone. The NIMS Department of Endocrinology head said that they had been working on the non-invasive test for diabetes for over a decade collaborating with doctors and scientists all over the world. The two scientists are in the city to attend the two-day Diabetes-2012 being organised by the Yalamachi Diabetes Research Foundation (YDRF).
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