In this digital era, everyone knows how to capture an image or shoot a video with a smartphone. But with integration of low cost optical components and custom developed video processing algorithm a researcher team led by prof. Daniel A. Fletcher from University of Berkeley has developed "Cellscope loa"; a miniaturized microscope with in-filed disease diagnosis ability. As reported in the published research article in the highly acclaimed journal, Science Transnational Medicine; the detection process is based on the wriggling motion of the live blood borne parasites.
The developed video microscope detects this wriggling motion of the parasite and quantifies there presence with the in-built video processing with the smartphone. With rapid 3D printing technology the cost of the device can significantly be reduced when manufactured in mass scale. The researcher has tested the performance of the video microscope in the loa-endemic regions of central Africa and good correlation has been found with time consuming laboratory confined manual thick smear count.
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The existing method for detection and quantification of blood borne parasites is a time consuming process due to manual counting and is not suitable for point-of-care diagnosis. Cellscope loa is now used for 40,000 people in Cameron, Africa. The new invention can be adopted by most of the rural and remote location of India where proper medical diagnostic facility is not available.
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