Worms count for an estimated one billion cases of human gastrointestinal infections worldwide, with 450 million of those cases causing significant illness, especially for children.
Dr Stephen Sowerby, director of the Applied Science Programme at Otago University, is leading the research, which takes pictures, identifies, and counts the parasitic worm eggs in stools. He said the device was much simpler than the method used at present and allowed unqualified people to take samples by cellphone for remote location analysis.
Now, the university has received a $US100,000 boost through one of more than 50 Grand Challenges Explorations (GCE) Round 10 grants by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Dr Sowerby said the device, originally developed to detect parasites in farm livestock, had the potential to save lives in Third World countries.
''If you are getting poor food and you are competing for the nutrient value of that food with parasites, you are really compromised. If we can provide technology that can help with the more effective treating of those conditions, we are in a place where we can help save lives,'' he said.
He was thrilled to receive support from the Gates foundation, which went beyond just monetary support and included support from a network of people who could help deploy the technology.
He will work with colleagues at the university's Centre for International Health and others to validate how well the new approach performs in humans in comparison with the standard McMaster test.
Successful projects could receive a GCE follow-on grant of up to $US1 million, and Dr Sowerby said the Otago team was confident it would get more money.
''Parasitology is an enormous, neglected problem, especially in the developing world, with around 1.5 million people per annum infected with intestinal parasites that can be diagnosed by this sort of technology.''
The device had been patented and Dr Sowerby and the university had formed the Menixis company to commercialise the idea, for use on both animals and humans.
Dr Sowerby was confident it would be commercially successful and the company had already licensed the patent to a third party.
- Additional reporting by APNZ.
