Scientists, including one of Indian origin, have developed a low-cost blood test that can detect iron and vitamin A deficiency in just 15 minutes. The small, portable diagnostic system about the size of a lunch box contains a blood sample test strip, like those used to test diabetes.
"Vitamin A and iron deficiency affect more than one-third of the world's population. Problems resulting from these deficiencies — such as blindness, anaemia and death, particularly among children and women — are a major public health challenge," said Saurabh Mehta, associate professor at Cornell University in the U.S. and corresponding author of the paper published in PNAS. "Most developing countries do not have access to the needed, sophisticated tools to enable early diagnosis. This test has the potential to solve that," he said.
The researchers found a way to include on the test strip three types of antibodies, which bind to specific biomarkers in the individual’s serum. The strip measures concentrations of retinol binding protein (important for eyesight), C-reactive protein (an infection indicator) and the protein ferritin (to find anaemia).
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"The key to solving these micronutrient deficiency problems is early detection and early intervention," said David Erickson, professor at Cornell.
At any given time, about 250 million preschool-age children globally are deficient in vitamin A, according to the World Health Organization. In those regions where childhood deficiencies are prevalent, pregnant women are likely vitamin A deficient and anaemic as well, researchers said. Annually, up to 500,000 vitamin A-deficient children around the world become blind and about half of those children die within a year, as they become vulnerable to other diseases, they said.