Wristwatch to Detect Malaria [View All]

[Clara T]

Wristwatch to detect malaria

Wednesday 18 January 2006, 10:41 Makka Time, 7:41 GMT  

A South African inventor has developed an anti-malaria wristwatch to help combat one of Africa's biggest killers by monitoring the blood of those who wear it and sounding an alarm when the parasite is detected.
Gervan Lubbe said his Malaria Monitor wristwatch, due to be launched next month, could save lives and keep millions out of hospital by preventing the disease before patients even feel ill.

Lubbe said: "It picks up the parasite and destroys it so early that the possibility of dying is absolutely zero and you don't even feel the early cold symptoms."

Malaria, caused by a parasite carried by mosquitoes, kills more than one million people every year and makes 300 million seriously ill, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The sturdy digital timepiece pricks the wrist with a tiny needle four times a day and tests the blood for malaria parasites.
   
If the parasite count tops 50, an alarm sounds and a coloured picture of a mosquito flashes on the watch face. Three tablets that kill all traces of the disease must then be taken within 48 hours.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/D7639F61-617F-4754-B8C0-005A47F46778.htm