The prototype paper test strips are impregnated with antibodies to antigens on red blood cells that determine the blood type. In lab tests using blood samples from human volunteers, scientists showed that a drop of blood placed on the strip caused a color change that indicated blood type. The results were as accurate as conventional blood typing.

The study was reported in the May 15, 2010, issue of the journal Analytical Chemistry. Study author Gil Garnier, Ph.D., from Monash University (Melbourne, Australia) and colleagues write that the test will be especially beneficial to health care in low resource countries. They note that it could also be useful in veterinary medicine, for typing animals' blood in the field.

When giving a blood transfusion the recipient's blood type, A, B, AB, or O, must be ascertained. Current methods for determining blood type require the use of sophisticated instruments that are not available in many poor parts of the world. An inexpensive portable test would solve that problem.

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