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DRDO develops typhoid detection kit

By Our Staff Correspondent

MYSORE, OCT. 17. Laboratories of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) have developed a typhoid kit and a water purifier that removes arsenic from drinking water for civilian use.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the "DRDO Agri-Food Industry Meet 2004," the director of Centre Technology Extension and Cooperation (C-TEC), DRDO, New Delhi, Brigadier Umang Kapoor, said the "Tifogin kit" could confirm the presence of the typhoid virus in a human being in 5 to 7 minutes. The kit, developed by the Defence Research Development Establishment (DRDE), Gwalior, has been handed over to a private pharmaceutical company for commercial production. The kits would be available in the market shortly, Brig. Kapoor said.

Breakthrough

The Tifogin kit is considered to be a major breakthrough for confirming the presence of typhoid, as most of the foolproof tests for detecting typhoid are conducted only seven days after the patient starts showing symptoms of the disease.

Meanwhile, the Naval Materials Research Laboratory (NMRL), Mumbai, a laboratory of the DRDO, has developed a new technology for removing arsenic from drinking water. The technology for removing the chemical has been handed over to Save The Environment, a Calcutta-based non-governmental organisation, for production.

Herbal ointments

The Institute for Natural and Medical Life Sciences, New Delhi, has developed herbal ointments to cure leucoderma, skin eczema and toothache. The commercial production of these products will be handled by Amil, a herbal pharmaceutical company. The DRDO has developed a Neem-based contraceptive, which will be popularised among the people by an NGO, Dipas.

"Leh Berry," a juice named after Leh in Jammu and Kashmir, has also been developed by a DRDO laboratory, the Brigadier said. Brig. Kapoor said that DRDO had transferred more than hundred technologies to the industry. Claiming that there was a huge demand for technologies developed by the DRDO, he said that the industry and DRDO needed to work in tandem.

`Tremendous potential'

The Chief Controller of Research and Development (AMS), DRDO, Dipankar Bankerjee, inaugurated the meet and said that globalisation had created tremendous potential for food processing technology in the country. The laboratories have developed food quality testing kits, safety evaluation kits, and iron removal kits, which were being used by the Army and the Navy, he said.

The meet was organised to appraise and familiarise industries and entrepreneurs with the technologies developed by the life science laboratories.

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