A Microfluidic Chip and a Portable Colorimetric Detection Device for the Rapid, Low-Cost, and Accurate Diagnosis of...

The lack of simple, rapid, accurate, and low-cost on-site diagnostic technology has seriously hindered the effective prevention and control of major infectious diseases such as African swine fever (ASF). This study presents an integrated, portable diagnostic system comprising a low-cost microfluidic chip and a fully automatic, portable device for simultaneously detecting nine samples. The aim is to achieve rapid on-site detection of African swine fever virus (ASFV) nucleic acid. The system integrates magnetic bead nucleic acid extraction, transfer, loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), and optical detection functions, and can perform fully automatic, closed-tube analysis of 9 samples in 25 min, effectively avoiding aerosol pollution. The detection limit for the ASFV P10 gene is 10² copies/μL. In a blind test involving 87 clinical samples, the system demonstrated excellent performance with a clinical sensitivity and specificity of 97.6% (42/44) and 98.0% (42/43), respectively, and an accuracy of 96.6% (84/87). When the sample concentration exceeds the detection limit, sensitivity can reach 100 %. The core advantages of this method are that it is fast, accurate, and low cost, and does not require professional laboratories or operators. Its modular design makes it easy to expand to a 100-channel, high-throughput detection system at low cost. This system provides a powerful technical tool for large-scale epidemic screening and prevention in areas with limited resources, offering significant public health and economic value.