University of Florida Researchers Develop Portable Device for Rapid Mosquito-Borne Virus Detection
A team of researchers from the University of Florida, led by virologist John Lednicky, Ph.D., and mechanical/biomedical engineer Z. Hugh Fan, Ph.D., has developed an inexpensive, rapid, and accurate handheld device capable of detecting seven mosquito-borne illnesses. This device is designed for use in low-resource or remote settings, such as rural clinics in Haiti or by farm animal veterinarians, eliminating the need for a power supply, bulky equipment, or extensive training. The technology, detailed in the journal Analytical Chemistry, builds upon previous work that developed rapid tests for Zika virus and later distinguished between influenza and SARS-CoV-2 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The current iteration, funded by the National Institutes of Health, targets Zika, chikungunya, Mayaro, and four types of dengue viruses, which are prevalent in Haiti, other Caribbean nations, and many countries in the Americas. The device has been validated with human samples and performs comparably to the gold-standard R...