A cheap and portable blood test could provide a breakthrough for diagnosing infections in remote areas of the world, a scientific study says.

一项科学研究显示，一种廉价、便携的血液检测设备使世界上偏远地区的人们诊断感染的方法获得重大突破。

The mChip is about the size of a credit card and can diagnose infections within minutes, according to a study in the journal Nature Medicine.

Prototype tests for diseases such as HIV and syphilis（梅毒） in Rwanda showed almost 100% accuracy, it said.

The US-developed device has a projected cost of $1 (60p).

This would make it much cheaper than the lab-based tests currently used.

The plastic chip contains 10 detection zones, and can test for multiple diseases with only a pinprick（针刺） of blood.

Results can be seen with the naked eye or with a low-cost detector¹.

"The idea is to make a large class of diagnostic tests accessible to patients in any setting in the world, rather than forcing them to go to a clinic to draw blood and then wait days for their results," said Samuel Sia, a professor at New York's Columbia University who is a lead developer of the device.

Hundreds of tests using a prototype of the device were carried out in Kigali, Rwanda. They showed 95% accuracy for HIV and 76% accuracy for syphilis, the study says.

Researchers hope to use the mChip to help increase testing of sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs) in pregnant women, particularly in Africa.

A version of the device has also been designed to test for prostate cancer.