Assembly having lancet and means for collecting and detecting body fluid

A body fluid-collecting and detecting unit for detecting a target component of a body fluid comprising:

• a housing having a bottom face;
• an inlet port for the body fluid;
• a test strip which enables measurement of the target component in the body fluid;
• a flow path for guiding the body fluid from said inlet port to said test strip by capillary action;
• a body fluid guide formed along the periphery of the inlet port, wherein said body fluid guide comprises two or more side members and a lower plate member, and
• wherein said body fluid guide is designed such that a width between said side members increases from the side of said inlet to the side of a distal end, and surface tension of said body fluid is lower in an interior space enclosed with said guide members than in an interior of said flow path, and the distal ends of said side members are mounted at an angle less than 90° to the bottom face of said housing.

An assembly having a lancet and body fluid collection and detection means for collecting and detecting a body fluid wherein said assembly is to be detachably mounted on a body fluid-monitoring system having a lancing means and said assembly comprises:

• a lancet section comprising
• a lancet having a puncture needle on a distal end of the lancet and a connector on a proximal end of the lancet for connection to said lancing means of the body fluid-monitoring system, and a first housing having a sleeve which movably accommodates said lancet in an interior of the sleeve, and which has a first opening on a distal end of the sleeve to enable projection of the needle into an exterior of the sleeve and a proximal opening to enable connection of said connector with said lancing means of the body fluid-monitoring system, and
• wherein said lancet before the lancing is secured in said sleeve at a position near the proximal opening to gas-tightly seal said sleeve;
• a body fluid-collecting and detecting section comprising the body fluid detection means and a second housing having a second opening for introducing the body fluid into said detection means;
• a first seal member for sealing said first opening and a second seal member for sealing said proximal opening;
• and
• wherein said first housing is gas-tightly sealed with both said first seal member for sealing said first opening and said second seal member for sealing said proximal opening;
• and said first housing and said second housing are fixedly integrated with each other such that said first opening of said first housing and said second opening of said second housing together define a distal opening to enable the projection of said puncture needle to the exterior of said assembly, the assembly comprised of the lancet section and the body fluid-collecting and detecting section being a one-piece assembly.