University of Cambridge

Developed by Cambridge researcher Dr Helen Lee, the inexpensive test delivers accurate while-you-wait results and allows doctors to take immediate action - circumventing the need to send samples away for laboratory analysis.

With around 400 million people worldwide estimated to carry the disease, the Hepatitis B Rapid Test could revolutionise detection of the condition in poorer countries.

Dr Helen Lee from Diagnostics for the Real World (DRW), who led the development of the test said: "Our test is simple, quick, inexpensive and can survive very hot conditions for many months - all vital factors when you are working in poorer parts of the world".

Dr Lee, who works at the University's Diagnostics Development Unit, set up DRW in 2002. The group has already launched a rapid test for Chlamydia that is currently sold within the EU and many other countries around the world. Other tests in the pipeline include rapid tests for the detection of HIV and influenza.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is highly infectious and is endemic in many parts of the world. In the UK alone, one in 1,000 people are infected and in China and Africa as many as one in six people carry the virus.

Spread through contact with infected blood or other body fluids, including sexual contact, infection rarely kills but can cause serious health problems and places enormous strain on healthcare resources.

Compared with existing diagnostics, which involve sending patient samples away to laboratories for analysis by skilled technicians using expensive machinery, the new Hepatitis B Rapid Test, developed with funding from the Wellcome Trust, uses a dipstick technology to deliver an accurate diagnosis on-site within half an hour and can be used with minimal training.

According to Professor Baruch S. Blumberg, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1976 for the discovery of the Hepatitis B virus and the invention of the HBV vaccine said: "Approval of the new Hepatitis B Rapid Test is positive news for the estimated 400 million HBV carriers worldwide."

"HBV infection and the diseases related to it are solvable problems. The Hepatitis B Rapid Test developed by Diagnostics for the Real World can make a significant contribution to the solution."

The University of Cambridge's Diagnostics Development Unit (DDU) was established a decade ago by a group of industry scientists who worked at a multinational diagnostic company. Its aim is to develop innovative tests that are rapid, simple, cost-effective and more sensitive than currently available rapid tests.

This new generation of point-of-care tests is intended to detect infectious agents that cause serious health problems in resource-limited settings, particularly in developing countries.

Reproduced courtesy University of Cambridge Office of Communications