Cornell University has been granted $2.3 million dollars by the National Institutes of Health to develop a hardware and software package dubbed FeverPhone, aimed at diagnosing six specific diseases including malaria, typhoid fever and dengue.
The four-year grant supporting FeverPhone, which also will provide real-time accurate diagnosis of chikungunya, leptospirosis and Chagas’ disease, is from NIH’s National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, according to an article in the Cornell Chronicle.
“We’re at a really important convergence of mobile and healthcare technologies, and it is these types of collaborations that can really move things forward,” David Erickson, a professor in Cornell’s Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, told the Chronicle.
The app will work with a blood tester called Tidbit, sharing data wirelessly to the smartphone for analysis. Erickson said the app will provide a diagnosis in 15 minutes.
“Acute febrile illnesses--such as malaria and dengue--are responsible for substantial morbidity and mortality around the world, and this problem carries imposing economic cost, primarily in developing countries. The FeverPhone will help diagnose common causes of fever from a drop of blood in a few minutes to enable appropriate management and treatment,” Mehta told the Chronicle.
Earlier this year, Boston Children's Hospital launched its own digital health venture focusing on fevers, dubbed Feverprints. The app, which is being developed on Apple's ResearchKit platform, aims to provide a deeper understanding of normal temperature variations by tracking and monitoring lifestyle and health information.
For more information:
- read the Cornell Chronicle article