Technology Review reported on July 23 that researchers have developed a new enhancement for cell phone cameras which could, theoretically, bring a more mobile and cost-effective means of diagnosing illness to impoverished areas with limited access to health care. It’s a tubular length tacked onto the cell’s existing lens, and it is called Cellscope.
Cellscope is optimized to work with fluorescent microscopy: insert dye into given sample thereby highlighting various squiggles and rivets (those are the scientific terms), shoot image out over a medical mobile network, allowing experts on the receiving end to diagnose the idiosyncratic patterns of diseases. Though users of the Samsung Memoir with its sterling 8 MP camera may cock an eyebrow and say “Ahem”, this is a camera evolutionary leap by bounds.
This is also the latest innovation in mobile technology’s foray into handheld medicine. Another recent example is WebMD’s application, Medscape. This application provides a comprehensive drug interaction checker, along with — for health care practitioner — Continuing Medical Education (CME) tracker. The Medscape application was launched for the iPhone in early June.
