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The sad part is: This app is basically useless. Malaria has very distinct symptoms. Malaria also has a 3-day pre-roll period where you know you are about to get

The sad part is: This app is basically useless. Malaria has very distinct symptoms. Malaria also has a 3-day pre-roll period where you know you are about to get malaria, but you are not yet in bed. Also, Malaria is the #1 drug every chemist stocks in malaria-infested areas. Furthermore, taking a malaria pill even if you don't have malaria has no side effect. What this means is that if all the criteria of bad luck come together: 1. Person does not know the symptoms for malaria 2. There is no chemist around who stocks malaria pills 3. The illness for some reason instantly hits the person without the pre-roll period ...then the person for whom all these criteria comes into question is about 99.99% not likely to have an Android phone around. And 100% not likely to have a lifelens attached to the phone.

rl41 15y ago
Hopefully this sort of technology is expanded upon, with two directions possible. The first is creating more self-diagnosis tools for smartphones (more relevant to those who are likely to own one). The second is creating tools for those 99.999% not likely to have an Android phone around (and perhaps to help doctors/nurses/other aides).
- kirinkalia 15y ago
  CellScope, based in Berkeley, came up with a way to attach a smartphone to a microscope a few years ago in order to test for TB in remote places and have doctors elsewhere analyze results [ BBC story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8161775.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8161775.stm ]. Their next device is an otoscope that attaches to the iPhone so you can take pictures of ear infections [ see the CellScope profile on LAUNCH: http://lnch.is/qTqQK0 http://lnch.is/qTqQK0 ]. Whether the malaria app works or not, I have no doubt we'll see more health-related hardware and apps for mobile phones.
Apocryphon 15y ago
Maybe it can be modified to look for other diseases with distinct blood patterns.
kenjackson 15y ago
This is from Wikipedia: The mainstay of malaria diagnosis has been the microscopic examination of blood. Although blood is the sample most frequently used to make a diagnosis, both saliva and urine have been investigated as alternative, less invasive specimens. Areas that cannot afford laboratory diagnostic tests often use only a history of subjective fever as the indication to treat for malaria. Using Giemsa-stained blood smears from children in Malawi, one study showed that when clinical predictors (rectal temperature, nailbed pallor, and splenomegaly) were used as treatment indications, rather than using only a history of subjective fevers, a correct diagnosis increased from 2% to 41% of cases, and unnecessary treatment for malaria was significantly decreased. It certainly sounds as there is use for diagnostics tools.
- maxklein 15y ago
  You still don't get it. It's not neccessary to diagnose for malaria via blood. Malaria patients know they have malaria in almost all cases, because they are familiar with the disease. As soon as the symptoms show, they take the tablets. If the problem is not fixed, then it was not malaria. But if you live in a malaria area and you have the typical malaria fever, 99.9% of the time it will be malaria. Blood diagnosis is unnecessary and expensive. Just take the pills.
  - kenjackson 15y ago
    I'm no expert. I don't claim to be. My point is that people actually appear to do testing. Now maybe you should relay your message to these testers, but it doesn't appear to be uncommon. In fact, there's a whole Wikipedia page dedicate to Malaria testing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaria_antigen_detection_tests http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaria_antigen_detection_tests And they note more than 20 commercial products for sale that test for Malaria. Here's a paper from the NIH on the importance and state of rapid Malaria diagnosis: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2223842/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2223842/ Here's another NIH paper talking about an Malaria eradication, and a big part of their plan is diagnosis: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21311583 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21311583 Again, I'm not expert (or even novice), but looking at the literature and what people in the field are working on -- it looks like they make use of diagnostic tools for Malaria. I've certainly seen no papers saying that diagnostics isn't useful in 99.99% of all cases, just pop a pill. Not saying that that's not what should be done, but I find the evidence thus far lacking.
ojacko 15y ago
Saying that Android penetration is small now means nothing regarding growth potential. Mobile phone usage in sub-Saharan Africa has exploded over the past decade and is responsible for greater mobile banking penetration than there is in the US (despite our incredible Android penetration). The fact that this technology is being built means that mobile clinic operators can take advantage of faster, easier, cheaper, more accurate diagnostics in the field. When will an everyday consumer enjoy the ability to self-diagnose a blood-borne disease? When someone gets AIDs in the US, can they self-diagnose? The need exists and this is a great step forward.
- maxklein 15y ago
  If the scan can be expanded to other blood-borne diseases, it could potentially be useful. But it's pointless for malaria. Malaria is a bit unique among diseases in that it's a parasite and not a virus or bacteria. I'm not sure this method extends to non-parasitic diseases.

rl41 15y ago

Hopefully this sort of technology is expanded upon, with two directions possible. The first is creating more self-diagnosis tools for smartphones (more relevant to those who are likely to own one). The second is creating tools for those 99.999% not likely to have an Android phone around (and perhaps to help doctors/nurses/other aides).

kirinkalia 15y ago
CellScope, based in Berkeley, came up with a way to attach a smartphone to a microscope a few years ago in order to test for TB in remote places and have doctors elsewhere analyze results [ BBC story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8161775.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8161775.stm ]. Their next device is an otoscope that attaches to the iPhone so you can take pictures of ear infections [ see the CellScope profile on LAUNCH: http://lnch.is/qTqQK0 http://lnch.is/qTqQK0 ]. Whether the malaria app works or not, I have no doubt we'll see more health-related hardware and apps for mobile phones.

Apocryphon 15y ago

Maybe it can be modified to look for other diseases with distinct blood patterns.

kenjackson 15y ago

This is from Wikipedia: The mainstay of malaria diagnosis has been the microscopic examination of blood. Although blood is the sample most frequently used to make a diagnosis, both saliva and urine have been investigated as alternative, less invasive specimens. Areas that cannot afford laboratory diagnostic tests often use only a history of subjective fever as the indication to treat for malaria. Using Giemsa-stained blood smears from children in Malawi, one study showed that when clinical predictors (rectal temperature, nailbed pallor, and splenomegaly) were used as treatment indications, rather than using only a history of subjective fevers, a correct diagnosis increased from 2% to 41% of cases, and unnecessary treatment for malaria was significantly decreased. It certainly sounds as there is use for diagnostics tools.

maxklein 15y ago
You still don't get it. It's not neccessary to diagnose for malaria via blood. Malaria patients know they have malaria in almost all cases, because they are familiar with the disease. As soon as the symptoms show, they take the tablets. If the problem is not fixed, then it was not malaria. But if you live in a malaria area and you have the typical malaria fever, 99.9% of the time it will be malaria. Blood diagnosis is unnecessary and expensive. Just take the pills.
- kenjackson 15y ago
  I'm no expert. I don't claim to be. My point is that people actually appear to do testing. Now maybe you should relay your message to these testers, but it doesn't appear to be uncommon. In fact, there's a whole Wikipedia page dedicate to Malaria testing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaria_antigen_detection_tests http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaria_antigen_detection_tests And they note more than 20 commercial products for sale that test for Malaria. Here's a paper from the NIH on the importance and state of rapid Malaria diagnosis: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2223842/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2223842/ Here's another NIH paper talking about an Malaria eradication, and a big part of their plan is diagnosis: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21311583 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21311583 Again, I'm not expert (or even novice), but looking at the literature and what people in the field are working on -- it looks like they make use of diagnostic tools for Malaria. I've certainly seen no papers saying that diagnostics isn't useful in 99.99% of all cases, just pop a pill. Not saying that that's not what should be done, but I find the evidence thus far lacking.

ojacko 15y ago

Saying that Android penetration is small now means nothing regarding growth potential. Mobile phone usage in sub-Saharan Africa has exploded over the past decade and is responsible for greater mobile banking penetration than there is in the US (despite our incredible Android penetration). The fact that this technology is being built means that mobile clinic operators can take advantage of faster, easier, cheaper, more accurate diagnostics in the field. When will an everyday consumer enjoy the ability to self-diagnose a blood-borne disease? When someone gets AIDs in the US, can they self-diagnose? The need exists and this is a great step forward.

maxklein 15y ago
If the scan can be expanded to other blood-borne diseases, it could potentially be useful. But it's pointless for malaria. Malaria is a bit unique among diseases in that it's a parasite and not a virus or bacteria. I'm not sure this method extends to non-parasitic diseases.