Zika Virus Diagnosed Within '1 Hour'

Aedes aegypti mosquito transmitting the Zika virus. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Junho Hwang] A technology that can simultaneously detect infections of mosquito-borne viruses such as Zika, Dengue, and Chikungunya has been developed by domestic researchers. Infection status can be confirmed within one hour using the patient's blood and a special solution. The research team expects that this technology could also be used to detect infections of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) as it is further developed.

Diagnosis of Mosquito Virus Infection Within One Hour

Schematic diagram of the all-in-one molecular diagnostic kit and an illustration explaining the molecular diagnostic process

The research team led by Professor Mingon Kim at Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) announced on the 16th that they developed a paper stick-type molecular diagnostic technology, and their related research paper was featured in Biosensors & Bioelectronics.

The team developed a technology that allows easy diagnosis of virus infection by placing a lab-on-paper chip on a paper stick resembling a common pregnancy test kit. The lab-on-paper technology automatically performs multi-step biochemical reactions by combining various materials similar to paper. The research team secured technologies such as rapid gene extraction and multiplex molecular diagnosis using this technology, and integrated them into a single chip called the 'all-in-one molecular diagnostic chip', which was placed on the paper stick.

The team initially designed the molecular diagnostic chip to detect infections of three mosquito-borne viruses (Zika, Dengue, Chikungunya). When a drop of the patient's blood and buffer solution are applied to this chip, the presence of virus infection can be determined within one hour. The molecular diagnostic chip collects viral RNA in the blood in one place, performs isothermal gene amplification, and then determines the infection status.

Potential Use for COVID-19 Diagnosis

Table and graph analyzing the results of applying clinical samples isolated from actual patients

The research team expects this technology to enable rapid on-site diagnosis of infections from various viruses beyond mosquito-borne viruses. Currently, molecular diagnostic technologies for detecting infections such as COVID-19 require a variety of processes over six hours. A major drawback is that diagnosis cannot be performed immediately on-site.

Professor Mingon Kim stated, "The all-in-one molecular diagnostic chip developed this time is a platform technology applicable to most molecular diagnostics, and we plan to complete a faster and more reproducible prototype by the end of this year through follow-up research." He added, "We expect this to be applied not only to mosquito-borne viruses but also to fields requiring on-site diagnosis such as COVID-19 and influenza."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.