Open AccessFrugal filtering optical lenses for point-of-care diagnostics
Author(s) -
Joanna Long,
Helen E. Parker,
Katjana Ehrlich,
Michael G. Tanner,
Kevin Dhaliwal,
Bethany Mills
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
biomedical optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.362
H-Index - 86
ISSN - 2156-7085
DOI - 10.1364/boe.381014
Subject(s) - software portability , point of care testing , point of care , medicine , low and middle income countries , intensive care medicine , computer science , pathology , nanotechnology , materials science , biology , developing country , programming language , ecology
Infectious diseases are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in low and middle income countries (LMICs). Rapid diagnosis of infections in LMICs presents many challenges, especially in rural areas where access to health care, including diagnostics, is poor. Microscopy is one of the most commonly used platforms to diagnose bacterial infections on clinical samples. Fluorescence microscopy has high sensitivity and specificity but to date is mostly performed within a laboratory setting due to the high-cost, low portability and highly specialist nature of equipment. Point-of-care diagnostics could offer a solution to the challenge of infection diagnosis in LMICs. In this paper we present frugal, easy to manufacture, doped polydimethylsiloxane filtering optical lenses that can be integrated into smartphone microscopes for immediate detection of fluorescently labelled bacteria. This provides a breakthrough technology platform for point-of-care diagnostics.