A research team at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati has developed a 3D-printed, cost-effective, accurate, and reliable device for rapid diagnosis of urinary tract infections (UTI), an IITG release said on Tuesday.

The device, developed by the research team led by Associate Professor Dr. Partho Sarathi Gooh Pattader of IITG’s Department of Chemical Engineering, can measure and identify the type of bacteria in minutes compared to conventional detection, which uses urine culture that requires a few days.

The estimated cost of manufacturing the device is Rs 608, while testing a single sample will cost Rs 8.

The details of the Point-Of-Care Testing (POCT) prototype have been published in the journal ACS Applied Bio Materials. The paper was co-authored by Aniruddha Deb, Dr. Partho Sarathi Gooh Pattader, Prof. Tapas K Mandal from IIT Guwahati, Dr. Swapnil Sinha, and Ms. Mousumi Gogoi from Altanostic Lab Private Limited, IITG Research Park.

“Early-stage detection of UTI is important to provide timely treatment. The Point-Of-Care Testing (POCT) prototype developed at IIT Guwahati is a photodetector that detects and quantifies a specific UTI-causing bacteria called ‘Klebsiella pneumonia within five minutes from a patient’s urine sample. The detection of ‘Klebsiella pneumonia is important not only because this bacteria is responsible for UTI but also for pneumonia and for the infection of soft tissue,” Dr. Pattader said.

Speaking on its end applications, Dr. Swapnil Sinha, Altanostic Lab Private Limited, IIT Guwahati Research Park, said, “We have demonstrated and validated the results obtained from our device with the hospital results following conventional methods. It matches very well. Thus, the technology can be optimized and transferred to a company for commercialization for the benefit of the society.”

UTI is prevalent in females, especially during pregnancy, and is caused by various bacteria. The most common symptom of UTI is burning or pain when urinating, along with a strong urge to urinate frequently. This can result in serious health problems if the infection spreads to the kidneys.

The conventional way to diagnose and detect the specific bacteria is by urine culture, which takes a minimum of two days. Without knowing the specific bacteria responsible for the infection, doctors cannot administer antibiotics to treat the UTI.