laboratory equipment tools

A test that can be performed entirely in the privacy of one’s home: “a home pregnancy test for STIs”, retailing for £10.

The product consists of a stick with reagents bonded to a slide at one end. The user places the slide in a stream of urine, then leaves the stick in a tray for perhaps 30 minutes. Two sections of slide will change colour, viewable through a plastic window, just like a home pregnancy test. One changes in the presence of human urine to indicate a valid test. The other changes colour if Gonorrhoea is discovered. This will be the minimum viable product. Other pathogens can be added over time, and ultimately viruses such as HIV.

For legal reasons the test cannot ‘diagnose’ that someone has an STI, but it can recommend that the user seeks medical advice.

The product may be packaged in a plastic tray, in which the stick can be left while it develops in order to prevent urine from contacting other surfaces. The tray may have a hermetically sealed lid to protect the reagents from contamination. The sealed tray and an information and instruction leaflet may be packaged in a cardboard box designed for effective retailing.