A new test developed by Irish scientists can detect cases of cystic fibrosis in half an hour instead of a day, New Scientist magazine said on Wednesday.

"The agonising wait to discover whether a baby has cystic fibrosis could soon be a thing of the past," according to the weekly magazine.

Scientists at the National Centre for Sensor Research at Dublin City University have developed a sensor that is worn on the wrist like a watch but instead of telling time it collects and measures abnormal amounts of salt in sweat -- a characteristic of the genetic disorder.

"The sweat test is the gold standard," said Dermot Diamond, associate director of the centre.

But a diagnosis with the standard sweat test usually takes a full day, so Diamond and his colleagues speeded it up and used a laptop computer to analyse the results.

The new test correctly diagnosed the illness in all but two border-line cases from 21 samples of sweat.

"You have the potential to get a very robust measurement. You have very few false positives and negatives," said Diamond.

Cystic fibrosis is one of the most common serious genetic diseases in children and affects one in 2,000 births. It causes a buildup of mucus in the lungs.

Two decades ago, only 12 percent of children with the disease survived beyond adolescence but an increasing number of sufferers are living longer.

The Irish researchers think the device, which could be incorporated into a watch, could also be used to analyse other components in sweat.

(From ChinaDaily)