05
December
2018
|
01:26
Asia/Singapore

Detecting viruses on MRT with portable device

A team of researchers led by Dr Kristen Coleman, Research Fellow at the Emerging Infectious Diseases programme at Duke-NUS Medical School conducted a first-of-its-kind research to study infectious respiratory diseases on board MRT trains. The researchers have successfully detected common airborne viruses on board MRT trains by carrying backpacks with sampling devices attached to air pumps. The method can potentially detect viruses in a population much faster than screening patients.