Three schoolboys behind a colour-changing, STI-detecting condom say they’ve been contacted by a contraceptive company about their idea.
Daanyaal Ali, Chirag Shah, both 14, and Muaz Nawaz, 13, won a TeenTech award this week for their idea, called S.T.Eye.
They want to create a condom that changes colour when it detects an STI.
Muaz told Newsbeat: “We wanted to make a product that will make life simpler, easier, better.”
Their idea – which is still at concept stage – involves a condom covered with antibodies that would react with the bacteria or antigens found in STIs.
Daanyaal explained: “Once the [bodily] fluids come into contact with the latex, if the person does have some sort of STI, it will cause a reaction through antibodies and antigens hanging on to each other, which triggers an antibody reaction causing a colour change.
The students said the colour change would work on both sides of the condom, with different colours for different STIs – green for chlamydia, purple for genital warts, blue for syphilis and yellow for herpes.
Chirag said: “It prevents [people] from getting embarrassed going to clinics, and [lets them] find out in the privacy of their own home.”
The idea for S.T.Eye came about in a Dragons’ Den style competition at their school in Ilford.
Muaz said: “We were searching the internet and we came across a Reddit post called 20 Things That Should Be Invented, and it said a colour-changing condom. We decided to add the twist of reacting with an STI.
“We never thought we would pitch it, we thought we would get in trouble. Even though it’s a serious topic, [we were worried] some people would think we were taking it as a joke.”
On the surface, James Harrison is just an average guy. He loves his daughter and grandchildren, collects stamps, and goes for walks near his home on Australia’s central coast. But it’s what’s under the surface that makes him extraordinary — specifically, what’s flowing in his veins.
Known as “The Man with the Golden Arm,” nearly every week for the past 60 years he has donated blood plasma from his right arm. The reasons can be traced back to a serious medical procedure he underwent as a child.
“In 1951, I had a chest operation where they removed a lung — and I was 14,” recalls Harrison, who is now aged 78.
“When I came out of the operation, or a couple days after, my father was explaining what had happened. He said I had (received) 13 units (liters) of blood and my life had been saved by unknown people. He was a donor himself, so I said when I’m old enough, I’ll become a blood donor.”
A deadly problem
Soon after Harrison became a donor, doctors called him in. His blood, they said, could be the answer to a deadly problem.
“In Australia, up until about 1967, there were literally thousands of babies dying each year, doctors didn’t know why, and it was awful,” explains Jemma Falkenmire, of the Australian Red Cross Blood Service. “Women were having numerous miscarriages and babies were being born with brain damage.”
It was the result of rhesus disease — a condition where a pregnant woman’s blood actually starts attacking her unborn baby’s blood cells. In the worst cases it can result in brain damage, or death, for the babies.
Rhesus disease happens when a pregnant woman has rhesus-negative blood (RhD negative) and the baby in her womb has rhesus-positive blood (RhD positive), inherited from its father. If the mother has been sensitized to rhesus-positive blood, usually during a previous pregnancy with an rhesus-positive baby, she may produce antibodies that destroy the baby’s “foreign” blood cells.
Harrison was discovered to have an unusual antibody in his blood and in the 1960s he worked with doctors to use the antibodies to develop an injection called Anti-D. It prevents women with rhesus-negative blood from developing RhD antibodies during pregnancy.
“Australia was one of the first countries to discover a blood donor with this antibody, so it was quite revolutionary at the time,” says Falkenmire.
Precious gift
Harrison’s blood is precious. He and Anti-D are credited with saving the lives of more than 2 million babies, according to the Australian Red Cross blood service: That’s 2 million lives saved by one man’s blood.
“Every bag of blood is precious, but James’ blood is particularly extraordinary,” says Falkenmire. “His blood is actually used to make a life-saving medication, given to moms whose blood is at risk of attacking their unborn babies. Every batch of Anti-D that has ever been made in Australia has come from James’ blood.
“And more than 17% of women in Australia are at risk, so James has helped save a lot of lives.”
One of those lives is that of baby Samuel, who is just five weeks old. His mother, Kristy Pastor, first received the Anti-D injection during her second pregnancy. With Harrison’s antibodies in her blood, little Samuel is her fourth happy and healthy baby.
“They just said you needed the vaccine,” she said. “I didn’t think about it any further, and then looking into it a bit more, I found out about James and how amazing he is and how many donations he’s made, and that it was all because of him.
“I’m grateful and I think James is really selfless to continue to donate, so that we can keep having this vaccine.”
Doctors still aren’t exactly sure why Harrison has this rare blood type but they think it might be from the transfusions he received when he was 14, after his lung surgery. He’s one of no more than 50 people in Australia known to have the antibodies, according the Australian Red Cross blood service.
“I think James is irreplaceable for us,” says Falkenmire.
“I don’t think anyone will be able to do what he’s done, but certainly we do need people to step into his shoes,” she adds. “He will have to retire in the next couple years, and I guess for us the hope is there will be people who will donate, who will also … have this antibody and become life savers in the same way he has, and all we can do is hope there will be people out there generous enough to do it, and selflessly in the way he’s done.”
Harrison is considered a national hero, and has won numerous awards. He’s now donated his plasma more than 1,000 times, but no matter how many times he’s given blood there’s one thing that will never change: “Never once have I watched the needle go in my arm,” he says.
“I look at the ceiling or the nurses, maybe talk to them a bit, but never once have I watched the needle go in my arm. I can’t stand the sight of blood, and I can’t stand pain.”
Two people have died, while seven others are admitted to Gatundu Level 4 Hospital after coming into contact with the carcass of a cow infected with anthrax.
Those taken to hospital had swollen arms and complained of headaches and fever.
The Gaitheche Village residents reportedly went to help a neighbour skin a cow that had died of an unknown illness.
Police and residents identified the dead as Pius Gitau Mari, 49 and Kimani Ngunga, 38.
Five of those taken to hospital were discharged Wednesday morning.
Mr Gabriel Mwathi said he was going to look for fodder on Friday last week when he was approached by a neighbour to assist in skinning the carcass.
“I met six other people and after skinning the animal, we carried some of the meat for our dogs,” he said.
Medical Superintendent Patrick Nyaga said the patients were out of danger but called on those who might have touched the carcass to seek treatment immediately.
Kenyatta University has bought two bed bug killing machines to tackle the bed bugs menace at the university. The two machines imported from Germany cost Sh850,000 each. Kenyatta University Students Organisation Secretary General told Campus Vibe that the equipment is the first in East Africa. University hostels like Nyayo in KU, Nyati and Chui in JKUAT, Mamlaka in UoN and hostels A, B, D and F in Moi are notorious for the bugs and efforts to burn them with hot water have not been successful.
Veteran politician Kenneth Matiba has been admitted to the Karen Hospital Intensive Care Unit.
His nephew George Gachugu said he was flown to Nairobi from Mombasa on Wednesday evening after developing breathing complications.
Gachugu said Matiba, 72, was referred from a Mombasa hospital where he had been admitted for a week before his condition worsened.
“I am appealing to the people of Murang’a to put Matiba in their prayers as he is in a critical condition,” he said on Thursday.
Matiba, Mzalendo Saba Saba party chairman, has been frail since he suffered a massive stroke while in detention in the early ‘90s, said Gachugu, who is the party’s vice chair.
He was last in the public limelight in 2007 when he vied for the top seat against former president Mwai Kibaki. He came seventh after garnering only 8,046 votes.
He was conspicuously absent during his mother’s burial two years ago
Drinking water immediately after waking up is a popular ritual in Japan. Scientists agree that is very beneficial to our health. For our readers we publish below a description of use of water. For curing various kinds of diseases drinking water has been found to be very successful in the Japanese medical society, treating numerous diseases, including:
Epilepsy, cancer, bronchitis asthma, diarrhea, vomiting, urine and kidney diseases, diabetes, menstrual disorders, meningitis, arthritis, headache, heart beating fast, all eye diseases, prevents fatness etc.
1. Drink 4 x 160 ml of water immediately after waking up, even before brushing teeth.
2. Now you can brush your teeth, but don’t eat yet anything for another 45 minutes.
3. After 45 minutes you may eat normally.
4. After eating breakfast, lunch and dinner do not drink or eat anything for another 2 hours.
5. Those unable from sickness or age to drink 4 glasses of water can gradually increase the content little by little each day.
6. People who practice this routine will cure above mentioned diseases and enjoy the full benefit of healthy life.
Below we will describe the list of days it takes to practice this routine for curing certain kinds of diseases:
1. Cancer – 180 days
2. Gastric – 10 days
3. High blood pressure – 30 days
4. Constipation – 10 days
5. TB – 90 days
6. Diabetes – 30 days
Patients with arthritis should practice this treatment only for 3 days the first week, and continue daily from next week.
This treatment method has no side effects, however at the commencement of treatment you may have to urinate a few times. It is better if we continue this and make this procedure as a routine work in our life. Drink Water and Stay healthy and Active.
Ndeiya my sweet home 