Smartphones AIDS Tests, Coming Soon

Researchers in South Africa and South Korea are in the process of developing a cellphone application capable of doing AIDS tests in rural parts of Africa.

The team have developed a microscope and an application that can photograph and analyse blood samples in areas far from laboratories to diagnose HIV and even measure the health of immune systems.

About AIDS/HIV - Prevention
Encyclopedia section of medindia explains in brief about the prevention for AIDS/HIV

"Our idea was to obtain images and analyse images on this smartphone using applications," said Jung Kyung Kim, a professor in biomedical engineering at Kookmin University in South Korea.

The gadget, called Smartscope, is a small 1-millimeter (0.04-inch) microscope and light which clips over a smartphone's camera.

A standard chip with a blood sample then slides into the gadget in front of the microscope. Next, a special phone programme photographs the sample and analyses the cells.

AIDS - Initial Theories and Disease Progression-Blood Test-Stages-FAQs
AIDS was first detected in early 1980s, among gays, Haitians and black Africans. HIV is a descendant of a Simian Immunodeficiency Virus.

The team hopes that trials in clinics may start next year, Kim told AFP.

A different prototype developed in the United States takes tests in the field that need to be sent to a computer for analysis.

Quiz on HIV Symptoms
Do you know that there are symptoms for each stage of HIV/AIDS? Learn more from our HIV Symptom Quiz but here’s a disclaimer – never go by symptoms alone. Symptoms only indicate the progression of the disease, while only a medical test can confirm it.

But the Smartscope will itself be able to do a CD4 cell count -- a measure of white blood cells, which determines when treatment starts.

"Its basic function is to count those CD4 cells for diagnosis," said Kim.

HIV/AIDS Risk Calculator
The HIV risk quiz helps you determine risk factors for HIV.

The new technology is destined for AIDS treatment in remote communities in South Africa and Swaziland, where clinics often don't have the technology to do these tests effectively.

Almost six million South Africans are infected with HIV, while a quarter of Swazi adults carry the virus.

"In community health mobile technology is not a gimmick. It becomes an essential part of access," said Professor Jannie Hugo, who heads the family medicine department at the University of Pretoria, the partner in the study.

Source-AFP