Applying modern diagnostic technologies to disease management around the globe could dramatically improve patient care. Unfortunately, many such technologies are not available or not usable in resource-poor settings.

In sub-Saharan Africa, for example, health-care practitioners treating children with severe fevers have to either make an educated guess or use a "shotgun" approach, treating for all potential illnesses from malarial infection to bacterial pneumonia. The inability to arrive at a specific diagnosis not only delays proper therapy but can increase death rates. A recent study has shown that mortality is almost twice as high in patients mistakenly diagnosed as having malaria. Those deaths could be dramatically reduced with a reliable test that can be given at the bedside.