22
August
2018
|
15:35
Asia/Singapore

New kit uses saliva drops to identify HFMD

A team of scientists, led by Assoc Prof Justin Chu from the Dept of Microbiology and Immunology at NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, has found a way to identify children with hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) from just a few drops of saliva, even before symptoms show. They hope to eventually make HFMD test kits commonplace in pre-schools and childcare centres so that cases can be picked up early to prevent the disease from spreading.