Hong Kong hi-tech start-up finds faster, cheaper test to pinpoint causes of fever and improve treatment
- Cell-Check rapid blood test will help doctors find the cause of fevers faster and speed up diagnosis and treatment, company says
- Research team led by Chinese University professors say new technique can also be used to help boost the fight against cancer
A Hong Kong start-up has invented a new rapid blood test to pinpoint the causes of fever after they became worried about elderly patients who had to wait for days or weeks for public hospitals to confirm if they were infected with serious illnesses such as pneumonia.
The researchers from Cytomics said they hoped the new technology could be used in hospitals to ensure faster diagnosis, as well as for the triage of patients to ease the pressure on public healthcare.
The team was led by Chinese University chemical pathology Professor Nelson Tang Leung-sang and computer science emeritus professor Leung Kwong-sak.
“The main causes of fever are bacterial infection, viral infection and tuberculosis,” Tang said. “Currently, it could take days or weeks to find out which kind of bacteria had infected the patient, and up to a month for diagnosing tuberculosis. We need a quicker alternative.”
Tang said he noticed that thousands of patients queued up at public hospitals every day and many of them were suffering from fever.
