Mobile Phone Apps Being Created To Test For STDs

Mobile phones and computers will soon be able to diagnose sexually transmitted diseases under innovative plans to cut the United Kingdom’s rising rate of herpes, chlamydia and gonorrhoea among young people, according to a report in The Guardian newspaper.

Doctors and technology experts are developing small devices, similar to pregnancy testing kits, that will tell someone quickly and privately if they have caught an infection through sexual contact.

People who suspect they have been infected will be able to put urine or saliva on to a computer chip about the size of a USB chip, plug it into their phone or computer and receive a diagnosis within minutes, telling them which, if any, sexually transmitted infection (STI) they have. Seven funders, including the Medical Research Council, have put 4m into developing the technology via a forum called the UK Clinical Research Collaboration.

The developers of the rapid testing devices expect them to be sold for as little as 50p or 1 each (50 cents to $1 in U.S. currency) in UK vending machines in nightclubs, pharmacies and in supermarkets, as condoms are. They are drawing on nanotechnology and microfluidics, the creation of miniaturised laboratories.

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