One Health Approach:
Monitoring animal, plant, and human health together is crucial to prevent pandemics like COVID-19.
New Light-Based Detection Method:
Researchers developed a method using light and basic physics principles to identify virus-infected cells.
How it Works:
Viral infection changes the shape and size of cells.
Shining light on the cells reveals these changes through diffraction patterns (light patterns).
The difference in patterns between healthy and infected cells acts as a "fingerprint" for viral infection.
Advantages of the New Method:
Faster: Takes only 2 hours compared to 40 hours for traditional methods.
Cheaper: Costs about 1/10th compared to traditional methods using chemical reagents.
Easier to use: Requires only light and a microscope.
More widely accessible: Benefits low- and middle-income countries with limited resources.
Potential Applications:
Early detection of viral infections in animals, including livestock and pets.
Selecting healthy animals for breeding.
Monitoring outbreaks like bird flu.
Future Considerations:
The method is new and real-world testing is needed.
It's not specific to a particular virus but detects viral infections in general.
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