Two German inventors, Magnus von Knebel-Doeberitz and Matthias Maiwald, are
patenting an emergency kit for travellers who are unfortunate enough to be
bitten by creepy-crawlies while abroad (WO 97/30177).
Even if they can catch an offending bug, most people have no way of
identifying it. But the Germans’ idea is a kit that provides on-the-spot
analysis of the nucleic acids in the blood around the bite and compares it with
the traveller’s normal nucleic acids.
The victim then uses a reference table to discover whether they should seek
medical help.
