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A simple tag pioneered in South Africa could soon
be used to curb the spread of tuberculosis in Africa.
In efforts to better understand how the disease is spread, IBM
engineer, Toby Kurien, and research scientist, Darlington Mapiye,
have developed the concept of a tracking device which measures
the proximity of TB patients.
¡§We had to look at what we could do to collect data about
patients and how we can track infection,¡¨ Kurien said.
¡§The solution was to create a cheap sensor that could track when
someone who has the disease comes into contact with a person who
is not infected," he added.
Mapiye said that there was a stigma attached to people who had
TB and that the device was developed to destigmatise the disease
as well as further understand what kind of treatment patients
needed.
¡§With the kind of data that is collected by the tags, we are
able to optimise what strategies are put in place and better
understand how people come into contact with one another to
contract the disease,¡¨ he said.
Mapiye added that from the information collected, which is then
uploaded to a cloud server, they could then analyse the data to
know what kind of treatment people need.
While the project is still in its research phase, the team is
hoping to conduct trials in Johannesburg soon and thereafter in
Kenya, where IBM¡¦s other African research lab is based. ¡V
Source: www.news24.com |
