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Scientists from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the University of California, Berkeley, have developed a mobile phone microscope to measure blood levels of the parasitic filarial worm Loa loa. Before this point-of-care device, trained personnel would have to perform time-consuming measurements with laboratory equipment.
Related: Global Health Cooperation
The CellScope Loa is a video microscope integrating an Apple iPhone 5s. A custom mobile application allows the device to automatically capture and analyze videos of the microfilariae in blood from a finger prick in under 2 minutes. No special preparation of the blood is required, limiting potential error and sample loss, and health care workers need only minimal training to use the device. The researchers predict that a team of 3 workers could screen up to 200 people during the 4-hour midday window when Loa circulates at its peak in the blood.
Related: National Priority: Combating Antibiotic Resistance
The National Institutes of Health says the microscope has a critical role to play: Mass drug administration campaigns to eradicate the parasitic diseases known as river blindness and elephantiasis had been suspended due to potentially fatal drug-associated adverse effects in people with high blood levels of the larval form of Loa. This new microscope could make it possible to identify and exclude those people from the drug administration, allowing the campaigns to continue safely.
Scientists from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the University of California, Berkeley, have developed a mobile phone microscope to measure blood levels of the parasitic filarial worm Loa loa. Before this point-of-care device, trained personnel would have to perform time-consuming measurements with laboratory equipment.
Related: Global Health Cooperation
The CellScope Loa is a video microscope integrating an Apple iPhone 5s. A custom mobile application allows the device to automatically capture and analyze videos of the microfilariae in blood from a finger prick in under 2 minutes. No special preparation of the blood is required, limiting potential error and sample loss, and health care workers need only minimal training to use the device. The researchers predict that a team of 3 workers could screen up to 200 people during the 4-hour midday window when Loa circulates at its peak in the blood.
Related: National Priority: Combating Antibiotic Resistance
The National Institutes of Health says the microscope has a critical role to play: Mass drug administration campaigns to eradicate the parasitic diseases known as river blindness and elephantiasis had been suspended due to potentially fatal drug-associated adverse effects in people with high blood levels of the larval form of Loa. This new microscope could make it possible to identify and exclude those people from the drug administration, allowing the campaigns to continue safely.
Scientists from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the University of California, Berkeley, have developed a mobile phone microscope to measure blood levels of the parasitic filarial worm Loa loa. Before this point-of-care device, trained personnel would have to perform time-consuming measurements with laboratory equipment.
Related: Global Health Cooperation
The CellScope Loa is a video microscope integrating an Apple iPhone 5s. A custom mobile application allows the device to automatically capture and analyze videos of the microfilariae in blood from a finger prick in under 2 minutes. No special preparation of the blood is required, limiting potential error and sample loss, and health care workers need only minimal training to use the device. The researchers predict that a team of 3 workers could screen up to 200 people during the 4-hour midday window when Loa circulates at its peak in the blood.
Related: National Priority: Combating Antibiotic Resistance
The National Institutes of Health says the microscope has a critical role to play: Mass drug administration campaigns to eradicate the parasitic diseases known as river blindness and elephantiasis had been suspended due to potentially fatal drug-associated adverse effects in people with high blood levels of the larval form of Loa. This new microscope could make it possible to identify and exclude those people from the drug administration, allowing the campaigns to continue safely.