With half of the world's population living in cities, and that number expected to reach 6 billion by 2050, appropriate health infrastructure and care is paramount. The current health infrastructure is unable to sustain the demands of an ever evolving ecosystem of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, especially in densely populated cities. Social and environmental changes associated with urbanization, dramatic increases in population mobility, and overuse of medicinal products such as antibiotics and antimalarials have resulted in the dynamic changes in these epidemic prone pathogens. This has often manifested in unexpected changes in the transmission and disease potential of these re-emerging microorganisms. Genetic changes of these pathogens through adaptive evolution continue to challenge the development of effective public health responses such as vaccines and therapies. In the past few years, a number of emerging and re-emerging viral pathogens have resulted in epidemics of global importance. The Ebola virus outbreak in west and central Africa and the Zika outbreak in the Americas sparked breaking news worldwide, and readiness for global health threats has become a major priority for public health officials.
The infectiousness of many of these epidemic prone pathogens combined with poor surveillance and failures in prompt and acute diagnosis in resource-limited cities, where they are most likely to originate, often enable their rapid spread to sometimes devastating magnitudes. Current diagnostic infrastructure relies on a fragmented and inefficient system including unaffordable, unreliable, and highly complex test options. Patients are often left without answers and proper care, while cities and governments are overwhelmed with high medical costs. Thus, improved surveillance and diagnostic methods appropriate for these settings are required for early detection and rapid responses to contain outbreaks and reduce their associated morbidity and mortality and economic burden.
E25Bio addresses the important challenge of inefficient and ineffective control of urban epidemics by providing a novel, all-in -one approach to detect and report some of the most dangerous and transmissible viruses. E25Bio has developed miniaturized, point-of-care, diagnostic tests for finger prick blood that is capable of detecting infection within minutes. The diagnostic does not require refrigeration, a centralized laboratory, or trained medical personnel, making the test itself personal, affordable, and capable of easy distribution over densely populated areas. Through an E25Bio mobile phone application, an infected individual can image their test results, which will provide them with an easily digestible interpretation and offer options for proper medical care. Through the mobile phone application, test results are also geotagged in real-time creating dispersion maps for city health officials to use during an outbreak event.
E25Bio is composed of experts on tropical and neglected infectious diseases with experience in implementing health solutions in challenging, urban settings. With over 20 years of collective experience working in epidemic prone areas throughout the world, E25Bio is positioned to provide leadership for innovative technological advancements in health care. E25Bio’s products are mature and have already been manufactured for human testing. Manufacturing of our products are low cost and can be distributed in large numbers, making this the first diagnostic technology that can be sold at large scale. The technology behind the company’s products are patented and E25Bio holds exclusive global rights for commercial use.
E25Bio proposes to conduct two pilots in Colombia and India, countries with high viral incidence rates in urban areas. We will test our diagnostic prototypes on patient samples collected prospectively in both hospital and clinic settings. We will test the impact of our rapid diagnostics and data reporting platform on patient health outcomes. These results will allow us to implement a larger community based study and complete our vision of patient-driven public health solutions.
The current burden of these diseases surpasses the billion dollar amount per year. With the use of the E25Bio detection and data reporting platform, funds that were utilized improperly can be redistributed towards other pressing urban challenges.
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