Electronic chip to detect Sars

Singapore hopes to launch in January an electronic chip that will give an almost instant diagnosis of whether a person has Sars, dengue fever, flu or some other respiratory illness.

Ren Ee Chee of the government-run Genome Institute of Singapore told the island republic's Sunday Times newspaper that the respiratory pathogens detection chip would undergo testing soon in conjunction with an unnamed US company.

Detection probes on the chip, which is about the size of a 10p coin, will analyse saliva or nasal mucus dropped on to it and deliver a rapid diagnosis.

"Patients who have flu, dengue fever or Sars all exhibit similar symptoms in the early stages of infection," Professor Ren was quoted as saying.

"The chip will be able to test for all this at once, identify if it's one or the other and doctors will have a clear picture from the start."

Ever since Sars, or the severe acute respiratory syndrome, killed 33 people in Singapore this year, the government has been pouring resources into finding a reliable diagnosis and a cure.

It is also hoping to turn Singapore into a global biomedical hub as part of its strategy to diversify an economy battered by the technology slump. High-profile scientists including Ian Wilmut, who cloned Dolly the sheep, have been lured to the tightly controlled state.