Detection of Malaria is Now Made Easy!

Bacterial diseases like Malaria and Dengue are very contagious in nature, thus it is important to take precautions. The bacterial infection escalates very rapidly; hence, getting proper diagnosis and treatment in due time becomes crucial.

Currently, the regular medical test takes a couple of hours. However, a group of researchers and professors from the Institute of Engineering and Management, Kolkata and the Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur have developed a testing kit to diagnose malaria/ dengue in seconds. The testing kit helps diagnose dengue with few modifications.

The testing system named “Centaur” which has been developed by Nilanjan Daw, Debapriya Paul and Nilanjana Dutta Roy from Institute of Engineering and Management, in collaboration with Arindam Biswas of IIEST, Shibpur, significantly helps in the detection, monitoring and mitigation of several deadly diseases like Malaria and Dengue.

How does the kit work?

To detect malaria, an individual needs to purchase the kit which costs around Rs. 70 and then download the required app on the mobile. While the researchers said it costs only Rs 10 per test against a drop of blood through a pin-prick.

The diagnosis system uses a Foldscope (a foldable pocket-size paper microscope), with the help of a mobile camera. The mobile camera clicks the magnified image (with the help of the Foldscope) of the blood sample. The clicked image is then transmitted via an app through the internet connection to the central server where the data can be processed with the help of developed algorithm to detect the presence of malarial parasites.

The computation and detection of malarial parasites take only ~10 seconds and the doctor registered in the database can access the data and prescribe treatment accordingly.

The diagnosis is communicated back to the remote client and the test results are archived for future reference.

The researchers said that the testing system has an accuracy of 90 percent and now are planning to mount a small camera-based, internet and GPS-enabled device for remote areas where people may not have mobile phones.

PSM-India appreciates this most affordable and time-efficient solution to detect malaria which aims to eliminate human error, enhance diagnosis in real time and in remote areas and enable treatment as soon as possible.