Turn your iPhone into a microscope

Scientists have used the iPhone 4S to diagnose helminth infections in students in rural Tanzania.

They added a $ 8 lens to the iPhone 4S camera, and used a cheap flashlight and double sided tape to create a homemade microscope.

Thanks to this microscope, experts find worm eggs, if any, the main sign of the presence of parasites in the gut.

Homemade Microscope - (Photo: Isaac Bogoch)

The smallest worm eggs can be smeared by smartphones that are about 40-60 micrometers in diameter.

When compared to a laboratory optical microscope, homemade microscopes from the iPhone 4S can accurately diagnose up to 70% of helminth infections, and the probability of up to 90% in case of infection. heavy.

As reported in the journal American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, researchers, Dr. Isaac Bogoch's Hospital of Toronto (Canada) remarked that institutional microscope from smartphones can bring real benefits in The area does not have good medical conditions.

However, he said that it is necessary to increase the probability of the device up to 80% compared to the present.