The recent launch of the indigenously developed antibody detection kit marks a major milestone in the fight against filariasis. Over one third of the endemic population resides in India. The imported kits available in the market were not only expensive but were species specific, inapplicable on children below 10 years, and time consuming in administration. ]

All this may well become history with the launch of the filarial diagnostic kit developed by Prof. P Kaliraj, Centre for Biotechnology, Anna University and his team in collaboration with Gujarat-based Span Diagnostics. Costing just Rs. 40, the kit can be used to test blood samples anytime of the day and can detect the presence of infections in just three minutes.

The kit uses the anti-filarial antibody detection method considered to be the most sensitive and accurate way of diagnosing filariasis. The technology transfer of this rapid, antibody-based diagnostic kit “Signal-MF” was facilitated by DBT for commercialization. The kit has a good market in Africa, Asia, Central and South America where filariasis is common.