An Anopheles stephensi mosquito obtains a blood meal from a human host through its pointed proboscis in this undated handout photo obtained by Reuters November 23, 2015. A known malarial vector, the species can found from Egypt all the way to China. Scientists have produced a strain of mosquitoes carrying genes that block the transmission of malaria, with the idea that they could breed with other members of their species in the wild and produce offspring that cannot spread the disease. REUTERS/Jim Gathany/CDC/Handout via Reuters THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS
COLLEGE STATION, Texas: New technology that transforms a cellphone into a mobile polarised microscope can diagnose malaria in a Rwandan village with the same level of accuracy as a high-tech lab in a major Western city, according to Texas A&M University biomedical engineers developing the device.
"The way they diagnose malaria now is with a microscope but it is with a big bench top microscope that is relatively complicated to use, takes a trained technician, and you have to have the facility for that scope in a centralised lab somewhere. So basically what we are taking is that gold standard and making it into a portable device," said Gerard Cote, a professor of Biomedical Engineering.
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