University of Alberta researchers are repurposing handheld lactic acid testing devices that were originally developed for endurance athletes in North America as a tool to save the lives of critically ill children in sub-Saharan Africa.
The team used the portable blood test on Ugandan children presenting to hospital with symptoms of malaria and respiratory distress and found that those with high levels of lactic acid or lactate were three times more likely to die from their illness than those with lower levels.
In recently published research, the team suggests the device could be widely used as a simple triage tool to identify the sickest children in need of the most urgent care.
"This is a simple finger poke much like those used for diabetes," says researcher Catherine Mitran, who has a PhD in public health and is now a third-year medicine student.
"It's marketed for high-level, non-medical-expert athletes to use during their training, but we found it also has prognostic utility," Mitran says. "When children came in with that high level of lactate, they were at a significantly higher risk of death."
