AI app ‘improves accuracy of HIV testing’

[NAIROBI] Scientists have developed a technology that relies on artificial intelligence (AI) to interpret艾滋病病毒test results, raising hopes of improving the quality of diagnostics, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, a学习说。

With more than 100 million HIV tests performed globally each year, improved quality assurance could better the lives of millions of people by reducing the risk of inaccurate tests, the study adds.

基于AI的移动应用程序部署在南非夸祖鲁 - 纳塔尔省的一项试点现场研究中，准确地确定了97.8％的阳性HIV测试结果和100％的阳性和100％。

“ 98.9％的整体表现的准确性显着高于研究参与者的传统视觉解释。”

Rachel McKendry, University College London

Trained community health workers accurately predicted 95.6 per cent of positive tests and 89 per cent of negative tests, showing the superior accuracy of the AI technology. The workers used the mobile app to record their interpretation of 40 HIV test results, as well as capture a picture of the tests to automatically be read by the machine learning classifier.

Artificial intelligence, or deep learning, refers to the imitation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think like humans and mimic their actions.

“研究结果表明，对快速诊断测试的精确分类进行深度学习的潜力。研究参与者的传统视觉解释的总体表现为98.9％。”生物医学and nanotechnology at the London Centre for Nanotechnology, University College London in the United Kingdom.

麦肯德里告诉SciDev.Netthat the study began in 2017 with the aim of developing low-cost, user-friendly,mobile phone-connected diagnostic tools艾滋病毒和评价简述的可行性cing these tools to improve access to HIV testing and subsequent care, in resource-limited settings.

McKendry表示，其他设备的其他设备已获得可接受性，该设备可实时地将HIV快速测试结果发送到在线数据库。这些试验的许多小规模方法表现出良好的性能，但大多数需要身体上的依恋，例如便携式读取器。

作为研究的一部分，总部位于南非的非洲卫生研究所的60名训练有素的野外工作人员帮助建造了一个图书馆，其中包括11,000张艾滋病毒测试图像，这些图像在夸祖鲁 - 纳塔尔省的各种情况下拍摄。根据该库的研究，AI应用程序经过培训，以将测试归类为正面或负面的测试。自然医学last month.

“We believe our real-world image library of 11,000 images acquired in the field … is the first of its kind at this scale and our study demonstrates that deep learning models can be deployed with mobile devices in the field, without the need for other attachments,” McKendry adds.

The app could be adapted in other locations, explains Kobus Herbst, study co-author and director of the Department of Science and Technology-fundedSouth African Population Research Infrastructure Network.

“Although the study focuses on interpretation of HIV tests, this tool could be adapted to interpret results of rapid diagnostic tests for other infectious diseases,” Herbst, who is a public health physician specialising in health and research information systems, tellsSciDev.Net.

赫布斯特说，该应用程序尚不可用，但已与之共同开发end users in mind and to be low-cost and affordable for health institutions in low- and middle- income countries.

麦肯德里呼吁非洲人policymakers为添加促进数字技术的使用ressing health issues “Historically, public health policymakers have been slower to take up digital innovations than other sectors,” she explains.

Bernard Langat, director of HIV,tuberculosis,疟疾他和非传染性疾病项目alth Africa, says the app has great potential for minimising errors in reading HIV test results beyond卫生保健facilities.

Ensuring accurate results, he adds, is an important intervention in HIV programming.“There is a need to expand the library of images to include those from different settings in Sub-Saharan Africa and work closely with HIV control programmes in these countries to further refine theinnovationsin these settings,” he says.

这件作品由Scidev.net的撒哈拉以南非洲英语桌子制作。