Anemia, often caused by iron deficiency, is a lack of red blood cells to transport oxygen. Undergraduate students at Johns Hopkins University have developed a cell phone-based screening device that’s intended to identify anemic pregnant women and newborn babies in developing countries in yet another example of the way mobile technology can be used in less expensive medical testing.

The non-invasive anemia detection device, which the undergrads expect can be produced for $10 to $20, just won one of 12 seed grants totaling $250,000 each in the Saving Lives at Birth: A Grand Challenge for Development competition. International health experts estimate that anemia contributes to 100,000 maternal deaths and 600,000 newborn deaths annually.

“This device has the potential to be a game-changer,” Soumyadipta Acharya, an assistant research professor in Johns Hopkins’ Department of Biomedical Engineering and the project’s faculty advisor and principal investigator, said in a statement. “It will equip millions of healthcare workers across the globe to quickly and safely detect and report this debilitating condition in pregnant women and newborns.”

Anemic women and newborns have too few healthy red blood cells to carry oxygen throughout their bodies, and frequently occurs due to a deficiency in iron, which is necessary to form the hemoglobin protein. Anemic mothers can die from blood loss associated with the delivery of their babies, and the babies of anemic mothers can face serious health consequences, including organ failure and death, due to their own anemia.

In developed countries, physicians routinely test pregnant women for anemia and prescribe iron supplements where necessary. However, in undeveloped countries, community health workers have limited training and limited resources to test for anemia. However, most community health workers carry cell phones.

The device, which the undergrads have named the HemoGlobe, uses a sensor attached to a smart phone that slips over a fingertip and shines different wavelengths of light through the skin. This enables it to measure the level of hemoglobin in the blood. The associated app on the phone provides a color-coded test result, indicating whether the patient has normal hemoglobin or has mild, moderate or severe anemia.

If the HemoGlobe device detects anemia, the community health worker conducting the test would encourage the patient to follow a course of treatment that could range from taking iron supplements to visiting a clinic or a hospital for more aggressive, potentially lifesaving measures.

In addition, the device would allow public health officials in a region to track the incidence of anemia by sending an automated text message with a summary of the results to a central server, which then would produce a real-time map showing where anemia is prevalent. The information could help region-wide public health officials target resources where they’re most needed, the device’s inventors say.

The Saving Lives at Birth contest attracted more than 500 entries from 60 countries, and was sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, along with other prominent global health organizations.

“When we thought about the big-name corporations and non-profit groups we were competing against, we were amazed and surprised to find out that our team had won,” inventor George Chen, 19, said in a statement. Chen is a sophomore majoring in biomedical engineering.

The HemoGlobe prototype, which was developed as part of a biomedical engineering design class assignment, took a year to brainstorm and build. The seed grant will allow the team to refine its technology and potentially will lead to field testing next year in Kenya. Jhpiego, a Johns Hopkins affiliate that provides global health training and services for women and their families, would facilitate the testing.

Jhpiego sponsored the HemoGlobe project through a partnership with the university’s Center for Bioengineering Innovation and Design.

The HemoGlobe may represent just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what smart phones potentially can do in medicine. Smart phone-based devices that can measure and report blood pressure and blood sugar and even broadcast heartbeats already are in use by a handful of patients, and Apple has been promoting its iPhone as a potential platform for smart phone-based medical devices since at least 2009.

At least two companies – AgaMatrix and Johnson & Johnson – are developing blood glucose monitors that can attach to the iPhone and provide readouts both for the patient and to be tracked by the patient’s health care team.

In the developing world, where cell phones are far more ubiquitous than hospitals or clinics, cell phone apps are helping public health workers record and track patient data, allowing them to fill in gaps in treatment. An app also is improving access to malaria treatment in Tanzania. It’s likely that future smart phone apps will help community health workers -- even those with limited training -- diagnose and treat illnesses in areas that previously had little access to medical care.

Source: Johns Hopkins University. Undergrads invent cell phone screener to combat anemia in developing world. July 24, 2012.