Smartphone to help farmers test for poultry infection

Chicken farmers in the Philippines will soon test their birds for deadly pathogens with a new hand-held device and smartphone app they can use on their own farms.

It will help farmers act fast before disease can spread and potentially infect people. It also cuts out the need to send samples away for expensive lab tests.

A team of scientists lead by Brunel University London will develop a molecular test and a smartphone app that, when used together, detect six key pathogens in poultry.

Farmers will collect samples from their birds using a large-matchbox-sized instrument that screens the DNA and RNA. The device connects wirelessly to the app to display the results, which can can also feed into a central store to help track outbreaks across the islands. The whole process takes less than an hour. | For the full story, CLICK HERE.