How colour-changing technology could revolutionise the medical industry

From chameleon syringes to self-expiring packaging, designers are turning their hands to graphic medical applicationsYou might not want to hear this, but there's a good reason to be scared of needles: the most deadly clinical procedure in the world is a simple injection.Every year, 1.3 million deaths are caused by unsafe injections, due to the reuse of syringes. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that up to 40% of the 40bn injections administered annually are delivered with syringes that have been reused without sterilisation, causing over 30% of hepatitis B and C cases and 5% of HIV cases – statistics that have put the problem at number five on the WHO priority list.It is a call to arms that stirred Dr David Swann, reader in design at the University of Huddersfield, into action, to develop what he describes as a "behaviour-changing syringe" that would warn patients when the needle was unsafe – a design that is now in the running for the Index design awards."The difficulty for patients is that it is impossible to determine a visual difference between a used syringe that has been washed and a sterile syringe removed from its packaging," says Swann. "Instigating a colour change would explicitly expose the risk and could indicate prior use without doubt."Keen to keep the price down to ensure accessibility, Swann turned to cheap technologies used in the food industry, using inks that react to carbon dioxide and packaging the syringes in nitrogen-filled packets – ...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: India theguardian.com Blogposts Design World news Pharmaceuticals industry Medical research World Health Organisation Global development Business Science Art and design Source Type: news