How lateral flow tests are becoming a diagnostic gamechanger

Familiar from the Covid era, the tests are becoming incredibly versatile, with potential uses including detecting killers such as strokes and sepsis

Speedy finger-prick tests to diagnose strokes trialled in Cambridgeshire

Swab, swoosh, splat. During the pandemic, many of us got used to using lateral flow tests to check if we were infected with Covid or were likely to infect others. But despite the gag-inducing testing routines of the pandemic thankfully fading into memory, we may not have seen the back of those small diagnostic cartridges.

Boots UK recently launched finger-prick lateral flow tests (LFTs) to detect levels of vitamin D, iron or cholesterol in people’s blood, as well as an influenza test. Trials of LFTs to rapidly diagnose strokes are under way, and the type of sample that can be loaded on to these tests is expanding rapidly, from fingerprint sweat or river water to cat vomit.

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