Novel smartphone test can spot urinary tract infections in minutes

Scientists have developed a new smartphone-based test that could help diagnose urinary tract infections (UTIs) in just 25 minutes.

Similar in principle to a pregnancy test, the process can identify the presence of harmful E. coli bacteria in a urine sample using a smartphone camera, according to the researchers from the University of Bath in the UK.

As well as being far faster than existing testing, the test could make accurate UTI diagnosis more widely available in developing nations and remote regions, thanks to its potential to be made portable, and far more cheaply than existing lab-based tests, they said.

E. coli is present in 80 per cent of bacterial UTIs, so if it is found it tells medical professionals that an antibiotic treatment is needed.

As well as a smartphone camera, the test, which could be adapted to detect a variety of bacterial infections, takes advantage of widely-available reagents and new micro-engineered materials.

Researchers said the simplicity of the test, ...