Japanese scientists have claimed that they were able to make glowing masks using ostrich antibodies. These can help determine if someone is suffering from the coronavirus.
Kyodo News reported that a group from Kyoto Prefectural University developed the unique detection method.
Researchers administered coronavirus to ostriches, which was inactive but not threatening. They also extracted antibodies from eggs laid by the ostriches.
After that, the team sprayed fluorescein with antibodies on a filter placed in the mask. When the virus is active, the filter will glow under UV light.
Researchers monitored 32 patients infected for 10 consecutive days. They found that masks were all glowing and the glow was fading as they became more virally active.
The university president and the project’s leader, Yasuhiro Tsukamoto, was quoted as saying that he himself found out that he had Covid-19 after wearing one of the experimental masks.
Tsukamoto’s team plans to expand the experiment to 150 participants and receive the government’s approval to sell their masks next year. “We can mass-produce antibodies from ostriches at a low cost. In the future, I want to make this into an easy testing kit that anyone can use,”Tsukamoto stated.
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