Dental 4 Less, Paper-based test could help prevent food poisoning
Food poisoning is a stomach-churning, miserable condition that sends thousands of Americans to hospital emergency rooms every year. Researchers developed a paper-based test that can handle the multistep reactions necessary for this kind of analysis by controlling the pore size of the paper. When dipped into solutions containing the E. coli strain O157:H7, Salmonella typhimurium or both, lines appeared on the dipstick indicating a positive result within 15 minutes. Because the method requires dipping the device into a solution once and produces an easy-to-read result, it could be performed by workers without special training, the researchers say.