Microscopic images transmitted by mobile cameraphone

Microscopic images transmitted by mobile cameraphone

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Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (2007) 101, 1053—1055.

A novel application of mobile cameraphone technology is the capture and transmission of images directly from the eyepiece of an ordinary laboratory microscope. The only equipment required is a spacer that allows the mobile phone camera to be held steady at the correct distance from, and parallel to, the microscope eyepiece lens. I used a plastic bottle cap, 35mm in diameter and 13mm deep, with an aperture about the diameter of the eyepiece lens (20mm) cut out of it. When the microscopic field to be captured is in focus, the spacer, cupped against the microscope eyepiece, is sandwiched between the camera and the eyepiece. By viewing the phone display and carefully adjusting the camera position, the image is centred, refocused if necessary, and captured. It can then be transmitted directly to another mobile phone or, ideally, to a computer, where it can be enlarged and enhanced, for expert opinion and permanent record. The resolution and colour reproduction of the image is limited by the camera’s quality. I used a basic mobile phone camera with a resolution of 640×480 pixels. This is sufficient to transmit images of objects of moderate size, such as a malaria gametocyte, or trypanosomes on a Giemsa-stained blood film, but not very small or subtle microscopic detail. However, mobile cameraphones are becoming ever cheaper and more sophisticated, with high resolution, zoom lenses, autofocus and video capture commonplace. The ubiquity of mobile phone networks will allow application of this simple technique in many situations where the dedicated and expensive microscope, camera, software, and computer network required for conventional telemedicine do not exist; for example, in rural diagnostic laboratories in developing countries.