The analysis takes just a few minutes and the doctor knows straight-away whether there are any pathogens in the blood. An improved marker-free technique provides the basis for faster analysis, whether in a hospital or for mobile blood donations.
If a person loses a large amount of blood the consequences can be critical. That's why adequate quantities of donated blood have to be kept available in hospitals and blood banks. In Egypt doctors collect blood by traveling to towns and villages and conducting blood donation sessions in a laboratory bus. The problem is that 25 per cent of the samples taken contain pathogens, including HIV, hepatitis and syphilis. As these diseases can be passed on in transfusions, the contaminated blood cannot be used. Conventional fast tests are not suitable in most cases for mobile use.