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A team of researchers is developing
an experimental smartphone-based device that could diagnose HIV and measure CD4
cell counts in remote areas far away from laboratories.
The Smartscope is a 1-millimeter
microscope and light that is placed over a smartphone’s camera. A standard chip
with a blood sample is slid in front of the microscope, and images captured are
analyzed by an application that is on the smartphone itself. A similar
US-developed prototype can take the tests in the field; however, the
information must be sent to a computer for analysis.
“Our idea was to obtain images and
analyze images on this smartphone using applications,” said Jung Kyung Kim, a
biomedical engineering professor at Kookmin University in South Korea. “Its
basic function is to count those CD4 cells for diagnosis.”
Trials of the Smartscope in clinics
could begin next year, said Kim. The device will be targeted to remote South
African and Swazi communities where clinics often lack testing technology.
“In community health, mobile
technology is not a gimmick,” said study partner Jannie Hugo, head of family
medicine at the University of Pretoria. “It becomes an essential part of
access.”
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
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