American experts have created a real lollipop called CandyCollect that can identify diseases in saliva. Photo: Courtesy of the University of Washington
Washington: Scientists have made a small modification to the lollipop to turn it into a reliable device for identifying oral and respiratory diseases.
Many diseases require saliva samples from deep in the throat. Children run away from this process. Looking at this problem, scientists at the University of Washington have created an electrical device that has coil-like bumps on it. On the other side, a lollipop toffee is glued. Now children and adults use it in a fun way and all the while human saliva keeps collecting inside the box.
The saliva collected in this invention called Candy Collect is sent to the laboratory and analyzed. Thus, an effective and useful saliva collection system has emerged for the identification of several diseases. The disease can be diagnosed by passing this saliva through PCR or other methods. In the era of Covid-19, the corona virus has been diagnosed by the same process.
Using lollipops, experts have successfully identified highly lethal bacteria such as Streptococcus mutans and Staphylococcus aureus in saliva. When this lollipop was tested it had 100% results which is a remarkable development.
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