Medical Mobile Device for Africa
Researchers have disclosed a major new addition for mobile phones that could be used by clinical staff in the developing world to diagnose diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria.
A microscope has been developed that will fit onto a mobile phone and permit doctors and other medics to examine samples including blood; thus allowing them to identify a number of killer diseases early. This gadget could save thousands of lives in the field.
The inventers of the device are pushng for the new microscope technology to be given out to medics who operate in areas where essential diagnostic test are not available. Old Blacberry mobile phones at the ready then.
It is widely believed that advanced medical imaging systems and computerised medical equipment can only be purchased by the rich, mobile telephones are now ubiquitous – we have been advised that there are in excess of four billion mobile phone connections across the world.
An ordinary mobile is used, and the CellScope microscope is attached to the back of it, in order to use the inbuilt camera to process the microsope pictures. This allows medics to analyse the microscopic samples for diseases which include tuberculosis and sicle cell anemia. Doctors can perform complex high-resolution light microscopy on a blood or sputum sample placed on a slide.
The team who developed the CellScope have tested the microscope on a number of mobile phones, and they agree that there are more accurate pieces of technology available, but sufficent pictures were seen using a standard Nokia N73, which only has a 3.2 megapixel camera
“Sample evaluation could potentially be performed in real time while a patient is still in the presence of a healthcare worker, rather than requiring days or weeks” the paper says.
In addition, the team believe that the acceptance level by medics based in developing countries and remote destinations will be very high; given the standards for disease screening which are being met by this new mobile technology.
The team also suggest that extra features built into many mobile telephones, such as GPS location data and internet connectivity, could be used to enhance the findings and make it simpler for medics to spot outbreaks and coordinate their responses.
