Mobile Phone Microscopy to Diagnose Helminth Infections

Using a mobile phone approach, researchers detected 69% of the helminth infections (including 81% of the Ascaris infections) identified by conventional light microscopy.

For many infections, the lack of simple field-based diagnostic technologies is a barrier to identification and treatment. In a proof-of-concept study that was embedded in a clinical trial on the treatment of helminth infections, researchers assessed whether a mobile phone transformed into a microscope could be used to identify helminth eggs in fecal samples.

Using double-sided tape with a hole punctured in it, the researchers attached a 3-mm ball lens to the camera of an iPhone. Slides of stool samples from children in Tanzania were prepared using the Kato–Katz thick-smear technique and were analyzed by conventional light microscopy. The slides were also viewed with mobile phone microscopy by placing them against the double-sided tape illumi…

Reviewing Author

Mary E. Wilson, MD

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardOneHealthTrust (formerly Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics, and Policy); Global Health Institute, University of Wisconsin

RoyaltiesUpToDate

Editorial BoardsJournal of Travel Medicine

Mary E. Wilson, MD

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardOneHealthTrust (formerly Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics, and Policy); Global Health Institute, University of Wisconsin

RoyaltiesUpToDate

Editorial BoardsJournal of Travel Medicine