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智能手机成为诊断疟疾新工具

Doctors fighting malaria¹ - one of the deadliest diseases on the planet - may soon have a new affordable² weapon in their smart phones. Researchers have found a way to use the phone’s camera to detect the microorganism in the patient's blood that causes the disease.

疟疾是地球上造成死亡最多的疾病之一。抗击疟疾的医生们或许很快就能在他们的智能手机中拥有一个新的、价格实惠的武器。研究人员找到了利用手机摄像头检测病人血液中致病微生物的方法。

According to the World Health Organization, almost 600,000 people died of malaria in 2013, making this mosquito-borne disease one of the deadliest in the world.

据世界卫生组织统计，2013年约有60万人死于疟疾。这个通过蚊子传播的疾病因此成为世界上造成死亡最多的疾病之一。

The saddest aspect of this calamity³ is that it affects mostly young children.

最令人揪心的是感染疟疾的以儿童居多。

Early detection of the infection is important for successful treatment. But since the first symptoms resemble ordinary flu, a microbiologist must look at a drop of a patient’s blood under a microscope for a proper diagnosis⁴.

及早发现对成功治愈至关重要。但是因为疟疾的初期症状与普通流感类似，必须要在显微镜下观察病人的血液后才能确诊。

Scientists in Britain have now developed a smart phone attachment⁵ called Xrapid, that turns the phone into a 200-power microscope, while the attached app - based on facial recognition software - quickly detects the parasitic⁶ protozoa in the blood smear⁷.

英国科学家研发了一个名为“Xrapid”的智能手机配件，它能把手机变成具有200倍放大功能的显微镜。这个配件通过与之相应的基于面部识别功能的应用程序，能够快速检测出血液涂片中的疟原虫。

Jean Viry-Babel is the CEO of IanXen, the company that developed the app. He says it is cheap and works on the spot.

让?维里-巴贝尔（Jean Viry-Babel）是IanXen公司的首席执行官。他的公司开发了这个应用。他说，这个应用物美价廉，当场可以使用。

“So we take a high-definition picture of a sample of blood. We separate the red blood cells from the rest - the white blood cells, the platelets - and we start looking at each of the red blood cells individually," said Viry-Babel.

他说：“我们拍一张血液样本的高清图像。图像能把红细胞和白细胞、血小板分开，我们可以单独查看每一个红细胞。”

Viry-Babel says the app is affordable, easy to use and provides reliability⁸ of up to 98 percent. The only additional equipment required is an ordinary glass lab slide - called a "slate⁹."

维里-巴贝尔说，应用程序价格不高、操作简单、可靠性高达98%。额外需要的东西只是一片被称为“载玻片”的实验室玻璃片。

“There's only one button, which is called "Diagnose". So you put it on the slate and you put it on the dried blood, and you press diagnose and it tells you yes or no," he said.

他说：“只有一个按钮，就是‘诊断’。把它对准滴有血液的玻璃片，然后按‘诊断’按钮，就能告诉你是不是疟疾。”

Researchers say the field-testing of the device will begin in January and February in Tanzania, Benin and Indonesia - while commercial use is scheduled to start by the end of March.

研究人员说，这个设备将于1月和2月在坦桑尼亚、贝宁和印度尼西亚开始实地测试，并计划于3月底开始投入市场。

They also plan to expand the versatility¹⁰ of the new device - teaching it to recognize other diseases, such as tuberculosis¹¹ and Lyme Disease.

他们还计划扩展这个新设备的功能，比如识别肺结核和莱姆病等其它疾病。