Egyptian researchers design 'faster, cheaper' hepatitis C test

[egypt69]

The American University in Cairo said Wednesday that a team of its researchers has designed a faster and cheaper test for all types of the hepatitis C virus (HCV), which it says affects about 10 million Egyptians.

The development "reduces the two-step testing process carried out over a number of days to a one-step process that takes less than an hour...at a fraction of the cost of traditional diagnostic protocols," the university said.

The liquid chemistry test can diagnose HCV using gold nanoparticles, it said.

"Our test is sensitive and inexpensive, and it does not need sophisticated equipment," said Hassan Azzazy, professor of chemistry and head of the research team.

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