By John Travis
After successfully testing a device that can hear the movement of a single virus from a drop of fluid, researchers envision a handheld instrument that could detect viral illnesses such as foot-and-mouth disease and Ebola.
The investigators suggest that their acoustic detector could be quicker and more economical than current assays used to identify viruses in blood, saliva, and other bodily fluids. Many of those tests employ expensive enzymes and take days to perform.