Scientists at UC Berkley believe that a blood parasite detector comprised of an iPhone, a 3D-printed box, an Arduino, some software and other simple parts could benefit may people in the poorest parts of Africa.
The group has been working on a project to identify blood parasites within minutes. The way the “CellScope Loa” works is rather simple: the iPhone sits in the box and records brief video of a blood sample. A companion app than analyzes the video, searching for signs of a certain type of blood worm that can cause river blindness and elephantiasis.
The researchers plan to expand current trials to about 40,000 people in Cameroon. Good luck to all of them; this is an incredible project.
