Pentagon Scientists Develop Implant To Go Under Skin To Detect Covid

Scientists as the US Pentagon have developed a high-tech implant that can be placed under the skin to detect Covid-19.

The secretive Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has managed to come up with a 'sensor' that can be placed into someone's body to detect the deadly virus, along with a revolutionary 'filter' to remove Covid from the blood.

Retired Colonel Matt Hepburn, an army infectious disease physician, has explained how it all works in an interview with CBS' 60 Seconds.

When he was recruited by DARPA eight years, he was told to 'take pandemics off the table'.

Hepburn said: "That was the beauty of the DARPA model. We challenge the research community to come up with solutions that may sound like science fiction. And we're very willing to take chances with high-risk investments that may not work. But if they do, we can completely transform the landscape."

CBS

Showing CBS 'a few current projects', Hepburn unveiled a tissue-like gel, which has been engineered to continuously test the blood.

"It's a sensor," he said.

"That tiny green thing in there, you put it underneath your skin and what that tells you is that there are chemical reactions going on inside the body and that signal means you are going to have symptoms tomorrow."

When asked if it was an 'actual transmitter', Hepburn added: "It's like a 'check engine' light."

This means sailors would be able to get a signal if Covid-19 was detected in their blood, before self-administering a blood draw to test themselves on site.

"We can have that information in three to five minutes," Hepburn said.

"As you truncate that time, as you diagnose and treat, what you do is you stop the infection in its tracks."

DARPA - which was set up during the Cold War more than 60 years ago - has also devised a revolutionary filter that can be hooked up to a dialysis machine to remove the virus.

CBS

Hepburn said you simply put the filter on a dialysis machine so 'pass someone's blood through', which then 'takes the virus out, and puts the blood back in'.

According to CBS, Covid-19 has infected more than 250,000 Defense Department personnel and their dependents around the world.

With the death toll still continuing to rise, the Pentagon has been jump-starting programmes that might help save lives.

Topics: News, Coronavirus, US News

Jess Hardiman

Jess is a journalist at LADbible who graduated from Manchester University with a degree in Film Studies, English Language and Linguistics - indecisiveness at its finest, right there. She also works for FOODbible and its sister page Seitanists, which are both a safe haven for her to channel a love for homemade pasta, fennel and everything else in between. You can contact Jess at [email protected].

@Jess_Hardiman