Armstrong Maxim, Harris Andrew R, D'Ambrosio Michael V, Coulibaly Jean T, Essien-Baidoo Samuel, Ephraim Richard K D, Andrews Jason R, Bogoch Isaac I, Fletcher Daniel A
Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California.
Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California.
Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2022 Mar 28;106(5):1442-9. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.21-1071.
Schistosoma haematobium continues to pose a significant public health burden despite ongoing global control efforts. One of several barriers to sustained control (and ultimately elimination) is the lack of access to highly sensitive diagnostic or screening tools that are inexpensive, rapid, and can be used at the point of sample collection. Here, we report an automated point-of-care diagnostic based on mobile phone microscopy that rapidly images and identifies S. haematobium eggs in urine samples. Parasite eggs are filtered from urine within a specialized, inexpensive cartridge that is then automatically imaged by the mobile phone microscope (the "SchistoScope"). Parasite eggs are captured at a constriction point in the tapered cartridge for easy imaging, and the automated quantification of eggs is obtained upon analysis of the images by an algorithm. We demonstrate S. haematobium egg detection with greater than 90% sensitivity and specificity using this device compared with the field gold standard of conventional filtration and microscopy. With simple sample preparation and image analysis on a mobile phone, the SchistoScope combines the diagnostic performance of conventional microscopy with the analytic performance of an expert technician. This portable device has the potential to provide rapid and quantitative diagnosis of S. haematobium to advance ongoing control efforts.
尽管全球一直在努力控制，但埃及血吸虫仍然给公共卫生带来重大负担。持续控制（最终消除）的若干障碍之一是缺乏能够在样本采集点使用的、价格低廉、快速且高度灵敏的诊断或筛查工具。在此，我们报告一种基于手机显微镜的自动化即时诊断方法，该方法可快速对尿液样本中的埃及血吸虫卵进行成像和识别。寄生虫卵在一个专门的、价格低廉的滤器中从尿液中过滤出来，然后由手机显微镜（“血吸虫镜”）自动成像。寄生虫卵在锥形滤器的一个缩窄点处被捕获以便于成像，通过算法对图像进行分析后可实现虫卵的自动定量。与传统过滤和显微镜检查的现场金标准相比，我们使用该设备检测埃及血吸虫卵的灵敏度和特异性均高于90%。通过简单的样本制备和手机图像分析，血吸虫镜将传统显微镜检查的诊断性能与专家技术人员的分析性能相结合。这种便携式设备有可能为埃及血吸虫提供快速定量诊断，以推动正在进行的控制工作。
