[ti:New Ways for Poor Countries to Diagnose Infectious Diseases] [ar:June Simms] [al:Development Report] [by:51voa.com] [00:00.00]This is the VOA Special English [00:03.32]Development Report. [00:05.01]Two new discoveries could [00:07.20]offer easier ways [00:08.80]to identify infectious diseases [00:11.43]in developing countries. [00:13.97]The first involves sheep. [00:16.76]Researchers have found that [00:18.85]hair sheep are a good source [00:21.61]of blood for use in tests [00:24.14]to diagnose infectious diseases [00:26.68]in people. [00:28.48]In developed countries, [00:30.52]microbiologists do these tests [00:33.06]with blood from wool sheep or horses. [00:36.79]But for developing countries, [00:39.18]that costs too much. [00:41.63]So tests often use human blood instead. [00:46.12]Ellen Yeh from [00:47.86]the Stanford University School [00:49.85]of Medicine in California [00:51.64]was one of the authors [00:53.53]of the study. [00:54.98]She explains the problems [00:56.87]with using human blood. [01:00.33]ELLEN YEH: "First off, [01:01.33]there is the infectious disease risk [01:02.93]because if you use human blood [01:04.31]there's a lot of transmissible diseases. [01:05.91]In particular, in Africa, [01:07.45]you'd be worried about things [01:08.46]like H.I.V. The other big problem [01:10.85]with using human blood [01:12.04]for making these blood agar plates [01:14.04]is that they're actually not accurate." [01:16.79]Doctor Yeh says tests with human blood [01:20.26]can produce the wrong results, [01:22.75]so they are not dependable. [01:24.99]The study found that blood [01:26.83]from hair sheep is an excellent substitute. [01:30.87]It produced the same results [01:33.01]as tests using wool sheep and horses. [01:37.29]Also, hair sheep require less care [01:40.76]than wool sheep. [01:42.53]They could better handle hot, [01:44.47]dry climates because they do not [01:47.26]have a lot of wool. [01:49.40]It also means they do not [01:51.39]need to be sheared. [01:53.55]ELLEN YEH: "Having to shear the sheep [01:55.38]for wool is actually very costly [01:57.33]and labor intensive. [01:58.82]The other advantages of hair sheep [02:01.06]include that it's more resistant [02:02.90]to parasites, so they're less prone [02:04.89]to infection." [02:06.29]The scientists also tested an easier, [02:09.02]cheaper way to prepare [02:11.11]and process the blood. [02:13.45]They found this new method effective. [02:16.45]The blood can be collected directly [02:19.59]into bags, much like with human donors. [02:23.53]The study appeared last month [02:25.95]in the online journal PLoS One, [02:29.05]from the Public Library of Science. [02:31.70]The same journal also published a report [02:35.47]in July on an experimental device [02:38.62]called the CellScope. [02:41.46]The CellScope is a cell phone microscope. [02:45.54]Engineers at the University of California, [02:48.63]Berkeley, developed it. [02:50.83]They attached small microscope lenses [02:54.01]to a holder fitted to a mobile phone. [02:58.34]The phone's camera was able [03:00.53]to take color images of malaria parasites [03:04.70]and tuberculosis bacteria in blood and sputum. [03:10.13]The team used a special dye [03:12.56]and special lighting to make the images bright. [03:17.14]The pictures could also be sent wirelessly [03:20.65]to distant experts for diagnosis. [03:24.88]Dan Fletcher heads the team [03:27.36]that developed the CellScope. [03:29.70]He notes that many poor areas [03:32.44]of the world have few hospitals, [03:35.73]yet have mobile phone networks [03:38.66]that are well developed. [03:40.96]And that's the VOA Special English [03:43.85]Development Report, written by June Simms. [03:47.39]Transcripts and podcasts of our reports [03:51.33]are at 51voa.com. I'm Steve Ember.