use, takes a trained technician,
and you have to have the facility
for that scope in a centralized lab
somewhere.
So basically what we are talking
about is that gold standard and
making it into a portable device,"
said Gerard Cote, a professor of
Biomedical Engineering.
The add-on device, known as a
mobile-optical-polarization imaging
device (MOPID), makes use of a
smart phone's camera features to
produce high-resolution images of
objects 10 times smaller than the
thickness of a human hair.
The device images a blood sample
using polarized light that can detect
a malaria parasite byproduct called
Hemozoin crystals which appear
as very bright dots in the image
and are an accurate indicator of
infection.
According to the scientists, once
the device is attached to the phone,
the diagnosis takes just minutes
using a phone app.
"An application software would
take that image and automatically
count the number of red blood
cells, count the number of parasites
over different fields of view.
And then by doing that you can
determine if they have malaria or
not," Cote said.
In 2015, there have been around
214 million cases of malaria globally
so far, approximately 438,000 of
which were fatal - with 90 percent
of those deaths occurring in Sub
Saharan Africa, according to the
World Health Organization.
It's those stark statistics which
inspired the team to keep the
device as affordable as possible, to
ensure it could be used where it's
needed most.
Smartphones are widely available in
Africa and the team says the cost
of the add-on optics will be less
than $50 (USD) with the disposable
blood sampling cartridges priced at
less than a dollar.
The team plans on field testing
the cell phone microscope next
summer in Rwanda.
FARMERS GAZETTE
November 2015
51