Point-of-Care Diagnostics in Low Resource Settings: Present Status and Future Role of Microfluidics.
The inability to diagnose numerous diseases rapidly is a significant cause of the disparity of deaths resulting from both communicable and non-communicable diseases in the developing world in comparison to the developed world. Existing diagnostic instrumentation usually requires sophisticated infrastructure, stable electrical power, expensive reagents, long assay times, and highly trained personnel which is not often available in limited resource settings. This review will critically survey and analyse the current lateral flow-based point-of-care (POC) technologies, which have made a major impact on diagnostic testing in developing countries over the last 50 years. The future of POC technologies including the applications of microfluidics, which allows miniaturisation and integration of complex functions that facilitate their usage in limited resource settings, is discussed The advantages offered by such systems, including low cost, ruggedness and the capacity to generate accurate and reliable results rapidly, are well suited to the clinical and social settings of the developing world.
Biomedical Diagnostics Institute (BDI), Dublin City University, Glasnevin, Dublin 9, Ireland. shikha.sharma@dcu.ie.
Shikha
S
Sharma
Biomedical Diagnostics Institute (BDI), Dublin City University, Glasnevin, Dublin 9, Ireland. julia.zapatero@dcu.ie.|School of Biotechnology, Dublin City University, Glasnevin, Dublin 9, Ireland. julia.zapatero@dcu.ie.
Julia
J
Zapatero-Rodríguez
Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK. P.Estrela@bath.ac.uk.
Pedro
P
Estrela
Biomedical Diagnostics Institute (BDI), Dublin City University, Glasnevin, Dublin 9, Ireland. richard.okennedy@dcu.ie.|School of Biotechnology, Dublin City University, Glasnevin, Dublin 9, Ireland. richard.okennedy@dcu.ie.
Richard
R
O'Kennedy
D015374:Biosensing Techniques / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D003906:Developing Countries; D006295:Health Resources; D006801:Humans; D007118:Immunoassay / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D044085:Microfluidics / Q000191:economics / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems
global health; lateral flow immunoassay; low-cost biosensors; microfluidics; point-of-care diagnostics