For this test, it suffices to take a drop of blood by simply pricking the fingertip.

Drawing.

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Franck Lodi - Sipa

  • A Toulouse researcher has developed with the University of Oxford a very low-cost serological test to detect Covid-19 antigens with rudimentary material.

  • It is reserved for research teams, in particular those from countries which do not have advanced technologies.

  • But the simple technique can be used to monitor other epidemics, such as tuberculosis.

At 0.3 cents per test, "it is the stamp to send the reagent that costs the most."

Etienne Joly, Inserm researcher at the Institute of Pharmacology and Structural Biology (IPBS) in Toulouse, is part of the team, along with colleagues from the University of Oxford, which has developed a “simple and inexpensive” serological test to detect antibodies against the Covid-19 virus.

With almost nothing on the bench, except a drop of blood and the famous freeze-dried reagent developed by the British, in one hour and with the naked eye, "with 90% reliability", scientists can find out if the donor has been in contact with the virus and has developed immunity.

"When you tilt the wells, instead of flowing in tears, the agglomerated positive red blood cells form a button, they are disguised as large viruses", details the Toulouse researcher.

The technique is similar to that used to determine blood groups.

"The idea of ​​using the method of agglutination of red blood cells came to me thanks to my memories of medical school when I was stuck at home during the first confinement", says Etienne Joly.

He was thinking in particular of these underprivileged countries which do not have the advanced equipment necessary to monitor the circulation of the pandemic in their population.

“I wanted a test we could do on a hood in the bush,” he says.

The bet has almost been won since shipments of reagents have already left for research laboratories in Africa, South America or Sri Lanka.

For research only

But you will probably never find it in your drugstore around the corner.

Because the reagent is not designed for consumer use, nor patented for commercial purposes.

The test was also not the subject of an expensive clinical study that would also have taken months in paperwork.

The team opted for scientific publication, validated by peers.

"For the time being, we are sending the reagent free of charge to all research laboratories that request it," insists the researcher.

His horizon remains vast in the world after.

In Oxford, the team has already produced a reagent that can just as easily detect the South African variant of the virus.

"Above all, stresses Etienne Joly, by modifying the protein of the reagent, the test can be adapted to detect antibodies against the AIDS virus or the tuberculosis bacillus, two pathologies much more serious than Covid-19 and which still cause millions of new cases per year.

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  • Covid 19

  • Coronavirus

  • epidemic

  • Toulouse

  • Research

  • Science

  • Health