Tag: MALARIA

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AI microscope detects Malaria with precision

The team evaluated samples using both manual light microscopy and the AI-microscope system…reports Asian Lite News

An international team of researchers has tested the accuracy of an automated microscope, combined with AI software, to identify malaria parasites in blood samples of travellers in a true clinical setting — an additional diagnostic approach to disease detection.

Each year, more than 200 million people fall sick with malaria and more than half a million of these infections lead to death.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends parasite-based diagnosis before starting treatment for the disease caused by Plasmodium parasites.

In the new study that appeared in the journal Frontiers in Malaria, the researchers sampled more than 1,200 blood samples of travellers who had returned to the UK from malaria-endemic countries.

They tested the accuracy of the AI and automated microscope system in a true clinical setting under ideal conditions.

“At an 88 per cent diagnostic accuracy rate relative to microscopists, the AI system identified malaria parasites almost, though not quite, as well as experts,” said Dr Roxanne Rees-Channer, a researcher at The Hospital for Tropical Diseases at UCLH in the UK.

This level of performance in a clinical setting is a major achievement for AI algorithms targeting malaria.

“It indicates that the system can indeed be a clinically useful tool for malaria diagnosis in appropriate settings,” Rees-Channer added.

The team evaluated samples using both manual light microscopy and the AI-microscope system.

By hand, 113 samples were diagnosed as malaria parasite positive, whereas the AI-system correctly identified 99 samples as positive, which corresponds to an 88 per cent accuracy rate.

Automated malaria diagnosis has several potential benefits, the scientists pointed out.

“Even expert microscopists can become fatigued and make mistakes, especially under a heavy workload,” Rees-Channer said.

“Automated diagnosis of malaria using AI could reduce this burden for microscopists and thus increase the feasible patient load.” Furthermore, these systems deliver reproducible results and can be widely deployed, the scientists wrote.

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-Top News USA

CDC issues malaria alert in US 

There is however, no evidence to suggest that this year’s Florida and Texas cases are related, the CDC said, adding that the risk throughout the country remains extremely low…reports Asian Lite News

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a health alert after five cases of malaria were reported in Texas and Florida in the last two months.

The alert was issued on Monday to doctors, public health authorities and members of the public, reports NBC News.

According to the CDC, the four cases in Florida and one in Texas are the first in 20 years to be acquired locally, meaning the infections were not linked to travel outside the country.

The last such local cases were identified in 2003 in Palm Beach County, Florida.

There is however, no evidence to suggest that this year’s Florida and Texas cases are related, the CDC said, adding that the risk throughout the country remains extremely low.

“Malaria is a medical emergency,” the health body said, adding that all five patients have gotten treatment and are recovering.

Last week, the Texas Department of State Health Services confirmed the detection of the malaria case in a person who had spent time working outdoors, NBC News reported.

The person had not traveled outside the country or state.

The department advised Texas residents to protect themselves from mosquito bites by using insect repellant and wearing long sleeves and pants and further encouraged people to drain puddles, keep gutters clear, cover trash containers and regularly change the water in pet dishes and bird baths.

Also on Monday, the Florida Department of Health issued a state-wide mosquito-borne illness advisory, adding that all the four cases were reported in Sarasota County.

Before the Covid pandemic, the US saw around 2,000 cases of malaria each year, nearly all of which were detected in people who had traveled to other countries, the CDC said.

Around 5 to 10 people died annually, it added.

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Africa News Health

African island to eliminate malaria with With China’s medical expertise

African island to eliminate malaria with With China's medical expertise

Sao Tome and Principe, an island country off the west coast of Africa, is on its way to eliminating malaria with the help of Chinese doctors and medicine

 Sao Tome and Principe, an island country off the west coast of Africa, is on its way to eliminating malaria with the help of Chinese doctors and medicine.

The island country, home to over 200,000 people, has been seriously affected by malaria. It reported 2,000 cases in 2020.

The country is striving to eradicate the disease by 2025. “We still need to work hard to meet this goal, considering the tropical and humid weather here,” Guo Wenfeng, chief advisor of China’s expert team to the African island, told Xinhua.

Since March, Guo and his team have been in and out of the villages of the Agua-Grande district to conduct a mass treatment campaign against malaria, where a worrisome upward trend of malaria caseload has been reported.

The team, from the Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, has the trick up its sleeve — Artequick, a Chinese-developed drug made of artemisinin, piperaquine and a small dose of primaquine.

Its main ingredient Artemisinin, now at the forefront of the world’s battle against malaria, was discovered by renowned Chinese scientist and Nobel Prize laureate Tu Youyou from artemisia annua.

“Artemisinin has a swift effect against malaria parasites, while piperaquine has a longer-lasting effect, which makes the parasites less likely to build drug resistance,” Guo said.

Besides fumigating households and handing out insecticide-treated bed nets, the Chinese team has come up with a strategy of mass drug administration (MDA), whereby residents simultaneously took Artequick to flush out the malaria parasites, a groundbreaking strategy that proves to be effective in Comoros and other African countries.

In the following years, with the efforts of the Chinese team, malaria incidence has dropped from 60 percent to 3 percent in the towns near the capital Sao Tome under the MDA pilot project.

In the town of Liberdade, which used to be one of the regions worst hit by the disease, not a single case had been reported for eight consecutive months since the MDA strategy was piloted in July 2019.

Liberdade, a town of 500 residents, once reported 1,000 malaria cases in a single year, recalled Guo, who now is on his third mission to the island. “Numbers donnot lie. Locals’ approval shows us that our strategy works.”

“We, the local population, want to collaborate with this Chinese team to fight malaria because we want to end this disease here in Liberdade and consequently in Sao Tome and Principe,” said Vasco Guiva, a local resident.

The MDA strategy “is undoubtedly a preventive action that consists of administering medicines en masse to the entire population”, said the Sao Tome Health Minister Filomena Monteiro in March.

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The Chinese solution “undoubtedly helps in pursuing the country’s goal of achieving the elimination of malaria in 2025,” said Monteiro, while commending China’s support in this arduous task.

For Guo and his team, the story still unfolds as the Chinese expert team will continue to fight alongside with the African island till the very end.

China was officially declared malaria-free by the World Health Organization (WHO) last year.

“Last year, the WHO granted China a malaria-free certification. Many people on the island are still inspired by the news. It is our duty to help them get rid of the disease,” said Guo.