Melbourne device could prove ‘game changing’ for sexual health

Australian researchers say they have developed the world’s first rapid test that can detect all major sexually transmitted infections on a single device.

Health experts say it will be a “game changer” for reducing common STIs such as syphilis – which Australia has declared a disease of national significance – which can be misdiagnosed or missed altogether.

The testing device is roughly the size of a small laptop or briefcase and uses different technology to hunt down pathogens. Doherty Institute researchers in Melbourne are hoping their machine will be rolled out across sexual health centres, GP clinics and community health settings within the next five or so years.

Where existing rapid tests look for antigens, or antibodies, which are what the body uses to respond to an infection, the institute’s device searches for the infection itself by searching for distinct genetic “barcodes”.

Using urine, saliva or nasal samples, the device can test for gonorrhoea, chlamydia, syphilis and herpes and can run tests for all four STIs simultaneously, with results delivered within 50 minutes. In comparison, results for traditional STI swabs generally take a couple of days.

The idea is to reduce what is known as “loss of follow-up” – where a patient doesn’t return to the clinic for their test results or treatment.

“We need tests that can be performed where the individual is, and that are accurate and rapid. Tests that would allow the person to be treated in that same visit. Current technologies don’t really allow for that,” Dr Shivani Pasricha, a laboratory head at the Doherty Institute’s department of infectious diseases, said.

A laboratory trial showed the device can identify syphilis and herpes with an accuracy of more than 80 and 90 per cent, respectively. Sensitivity was not as high for gonorrhea (80 per cent). However, the device can also identify if a strain of gonorrhoea that is resistant to typical antibiotics, allowing for immediate tailored treatment. The findings were published on Wednesday in the peer-reviewed journal The Lancet Microbe.

Between 2005 and 2025 in Victoria, STI rates jumped from 10,695 to 35,803 – a 234 per cent increase, per federal government data. Concurrently, infections such as gonorrhoea are becoming increasingly resistant to available antibiotics.

In her first interview about the findings, Pasricha said the federal government and the World Health Organisation had identified the need for better STI testing.

“We are having cases of congenital syphilis, and that’s a real marker that things aren’t working and need to change,” she said.

Congenital syphilis is rising around the world, with the disease re-emerging in Victoria in 2017 after a 25-year hiatus.

Its resurgence coincides with a more than doubling of infectious syphilis cases in Victoria over the past decade, with 1450 cases reported last year compared with 637 in 2014. More than 280 cases have already been reported this year.

The Age revealed in March last year that a surge in syphilis infections had led to the deaths of 10 babies in Victoria, triggering an overhaul of screenings for pregnant women.

By August, Australia’s chief health officer had declared syphilis a communicable disease of national significance.

In Australia, syphilis is typically tested at a lab via an intravenous blood sample.

“Our [test] works on urine,” Pasricha said. “It can work on swabs. So it really is a game changer for the individual.”

She added that the technology would be particularly helpful in remote communities or countries without easy access to centralised laboratories.

“We do truly believe that it will improve access to testing and reduce disparity.”

The next step is to trial the device at the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre and Clinic 34 in Darwin later this year.

Melbourne Sexual Health Centre clinician Marcus Chen said genital ulcers caused by syphilis were often visually indistinguishable from those caused by herpes.

“They can look very, very similar,” Chen said. “What’s happening is some clinicians are thinking it’s herpes, but not necessarily that it’s syphilis. Herpes is quite a common STI. For most GPs, syphilis is not a common thing.”

He added that, to the best of his knowledge, there was nowhere in the world where someone can take a sample from a genital lesion and get a result for syphilis and herpes in less than an hour.

“So this would be a world first.”

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