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Beaumont docs develop COVID-19 test that can detect virus in saliva, blood or urine in 45 minutes

Posted at 10:45 PM, Jul 01, 2020
and last updated 2020-07-01 22:45:39-04

Beaumont Health announced Wednesday that a team of researchers have developed a new COVID-19 test that would detect the virus in urine, blood, saliva or a mouth-swap in 30-45 minutes.

According to Beaumont, the team was led by Dr. Laura Lamb and Dr. Michael Chancellor at the Aikens Research Center at Beaumont Research Institute.

Beaumont said they compared results to existing technology, and those results were found to be highly accurate.

"We need more testing options if we’re going to stage a successful public health response to COVID-19," Lamb said in a release. "This is a rapid test that does not require expensive machinery to run and the materials for it are relatively inexpensive. The more options we have for testing, the better."

According to Lamb, the test could be used for screening at places like nursing homes, long-term care facilities, cruise ships, school systems and more.

Beaumont said the next phase is to get corporate sponsorship to fund development of the test.

The idea came from a rapid Zika virus detection test that came up three years ago, and it was adapted for COVID-19.

“This just shows you how working in one area can jumpstart research in another,” Chancellor said.

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