New smartphone feature: can detect parasites in the blood

Release date: 2015-05-11

A preliminary study of CellScope Loa in Cameroon. CellScope is a mobile video-based microscope developed by scientists led by the University of California at Berkeley. The study found that the CellScope Loa is as sensitive as the traditional blood smear test method and is able to detect the level of the filaria in the blood.

A model diagram of CellScope Loa, a new mobile phone video-based microscope developed by CellScope Loa, consisting of a 3D printed mobile phone case with simple optical components, associated circuitry and microcontrollers. The blood sample is processed. CellScope Loa is able to quantify the levels of Roa's in blood samples in less than three minutes.

A research team led by engineers at the University of California, Berkeley, has developed a smartphone-based microscope technology. Using the camera of the mobile phone, this technology can automatically detect a drop of patient blood, determine whether the patient is infected with parasites, and quantitatively analyze the number of parasites. The technology is based on CellScope's second-generation technology, which was also invented by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley. This new technology will provide medical workers with important information to help eliminate filariasis that is raging in Africa.

“Our previous research has proven that mobile phones can be used as microscopes, but this new technology is the first to integrate imaging technology hardware with automated software to enable fully automated diagnostics,” said Daniel Fletcher He is a professor at the Department of Bioengineering at the University of California at Berkeley and a deputy head of the department. CellScope is developed by his lab. "This new technology called video CellScope is a medical worker." Provide fast and accurate results to help them decide on treatment and save the lives of patients."

These engineers at the University of California at Berkeley and Dr. Thomas Nutman of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the United States, as well as scientists from Cameroon and France, have developed devices for testing. The scientists also conducted preliminary research in Cameroon, where medical workers have been fighting on onchocerciasis (also known as river blindness) and lymphatic filariasis.

Video CellScope technology does not detect parasites by detecting molecular markers or fluorescent dyes, but by detecting the movement of parasites. Scientists have found this technique to be as sensitive as traditional screening methods. The results of this preliminary study were published in the journal Science Translational Medicine on May 6.

"This study is trying to solve those tropical diseases that have been ignored," Fletcher said. “Some people are suffering from some terrible diseases that are treatable. This research proves that technology can be used to fill these gaps.”

Fight against parasites

River blindness is transmitted by black fly bites and is the second leading cause of global infectious blindness. Lymphatic filariasis, also known as elephantiasis, is transmitted by mosquito bites and can cause generalized pain and severe edema. Lymphatic filariasis is the second most common cause of disability in the world. Like river blindness, it is also a high-risk infectious disease in some parts of Africa.

An anti-parasitic drug called ivermectin (IVM) can be used to treat both diseases, but it cannot be used in large scale in the population because those who are also infected with Roafil are also infected. When a patient uses this drug, he or she may have fatal side effects. Infection with Roa's can cause people to get filariasis (also known as African eye disease). Treatment with ivermectin may result in severe or even fatal damage to the brain and nervous system when the patient's blood has high levels of Roa's.

Traditional methods of screening for levels of Rhesus in blood require a trained technician to manually count the number of parasites in the blood picture using a conventional microscope in the laboratory. The conditions of African wards and the need for large-scale use of ivermectin make this approach not practically feasible.

The serious side effects that may be caused by Roas filariasis and the inability of patients to rapidly quantify the level of Roafil before treatment can prevent ivermectin from being widely used, which is a hindrance to the elimination of river blindness and elephantiasis.

A new generation of CellScope: Automated detection using video

This new generation of mobile phone microscopes, called CellScope Loa, combines a 3D printed plastic backplane with a smartphone that simply drops blood onto the board with LED lights on the backplane. , microcontroller, gears, circuits and a USB interface.

Control of the entire device is done automatically by a mobile phone application developed by scientists. The user simply clicks on the screen of the mobile phone, and the mobile phone communicates with the controller on the backplane via Bluetooth to process and analyze the blood sample. The gear moves the blood sample to the front of the camera. A computer algorithm automatically analyzes the signature twisting motion of the silkworm in the video captured by the phone and displays the number of filaments on the display.

Fletcher said that previous ward field tests showed that automation would reduce the proportion of human error. From the insertion of the blood sample into the bottom plate to the final display of the results, this test takes less than two minutes. It is also necessary to poke a finger with a needle and then take a minute to collect blood with a capillary.

The ability to quickly obtain test results allows medical workers to quickly determine whether it is safe to use ivermectin on site.

“The ability to perform on-site testing before drug treatment is a big step forward in controlling these diseases that are raging in Africa,” says Vincent Resh, a water ecologist and professor of environmental sciences, policy and management at the University of California at Berkeley. “The mobile phone application developed in this research is very practical and original, and (medical workers) urgently need such an application.”

Resh was not involved in the CellScope study, but has been working in West Africa for 15 years and has been working to control the spread of onchocerciasis.

Scientists are expanding the scope of CellScope Loa's research, which will expand the number of people involved in Cameroon's research to 40,000.

The co-authors of this research paper are Michael D'Ambrosio, a scientist in the field of bioengineering at the University of California at Berkeley, and Matthew Bakalar, a graduate student in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of California at Berkeley. Other participants include researchers at Yaoundé University in Cameroon and Montpellier University in France.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Blum Center for Developing Economy at the University of California at Berkeley, the US Agency for International Development, and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases funded the study. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is a research institution under the National Institutes of Health.

Source: Sina Technology

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