Schistoscope: An Automated Microscope with Artificial Intelligence for Detection of Schistosoma haematobium Eggs in Resource-Limited Settings

Micromachines, vol. 13, pp. 643

Abstract

For many parasitic diseases, the microscopic examination of clinical samples such as urine and stool still serves as the diagnostic reference standard, primarily because microscopes are accessible and cost-effective. However, conventional microscopy is laborious, requires highly skilled personnel, and is highly subjective. Requirements for skilled operators, coupled with the cost and maintenance needs of the microscopes, which is hardly done in endemic countries, presents grossly limited access to the diagnosis of parasitic diseases in resource-limited settings. The urgent requirement for the management of tropical diseases such as schistosomiasis, which is now focused on elimination, has underscored the critical need for the creation of access to easy-to-use diagnosis for case detection, community mapping, and surveillance. In this paper, we present a low-cost automated digital microscope—the Schistoscope—which is capable of automatic focusing and scanning regions of interest in prepared microscope slides, and automatic detection of Schistosoma haematobium eggs in captured images. The device was developed using widely accessible distributed manufacturing methods and off-the-shelf components to enable local manufacturability and ease of maintenance. For proof of principle, we created a Schistosoma haematobium egg dataset of over 5000 images captured from spiked and clinical urine samples from field settings and demonstrated the automatic detection of Schistosoma haematobium eggs using a trained deep neural network model. The experiments and results presented in this paper collectively illustrate the robustness, stability, and optical performance of the device, making it suitable for use in the monitoring and evaluation of schistosomiasis control programs in endemic settings.

Authors 11

1. Prosper Oyibo

   University of Lagos · Delft University of Technology

   Affiliation as printed

   ANDI Centre of Excellence for Malaria Diagnosis, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Lagos 101017, Nigeria

   Delft Center for Systems and Control, Faculty of Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CD Delft, The Netherlands

2. Satyajith Jujjavarapu

   Delft University of Technology

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Sustainable Design Engineering, Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CE Delft, The Netherlands

3. Brice Meulah Aachen Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center

   Leiden University Medical Center · Centre de Recherche Médicales de Lambaréné

   Affiliation as printed

   Centre de Recherches Medicales des Lambaréné, CERMEL, Lambarene BP 242, Gabon

   Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center, 2333 ZA Leiden, The Netherlands

4. Tope Agbana

   Delft University of Technology

   Affiliation as printed

   Delft Center for Systems and Control, Faculty of Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CD Delft, The Netherlands

5. Ingeborg Braakman

   Delft University of Technology

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Sustainable Design Engineering, Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CE Delft, The Netherlands

6. Angela van Diepen Aachen Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center

   Leiden University Medical Center

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center, 2333 ZA Leiden, The Netherlands

7. Michel Bengtson Aachen Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center

   Leiden University Medical Center

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center, 2333 ZA Leiden, The Netherlands

8. Lisette van Lieshout Aachen Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center

   Leiden University Medical Center

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center, 2333 ZA Leiden, The Netherlands

9. Wellington Aghoghovwia Oyibo

   University of Lagos

   Affiliation as printed

   ANDI Centre of Excellence for Malaria Diagnosis, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Lagos 101017, Nigeria

10. Gleb Vdovine

    Delft University of Technology

    Affiliation as printed

    Delft Center for Systems and Control, Faculty of Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CD Delft, The Netherlands

11. Jan Carel Diehl corresponding

    Delft University of Technology

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Sustainable Design Engineering, Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CE Delft, The Netherlands