Fighting Malaria Using Gene Drives: Worthy Tool or Waste of Time?: A Safe-by-Design Assessment for Gene Drive Organisms

Malaria is both an economically and medically burdensome disease taunting people worldwide. Treatments for the disease – transmitted by malarial Aedes and Anopheles mosquitoes infected with Plasmodium – are either temporary or in developmental stages, while rising insecticidal resistance and mosquitoes’ behavioral changes call for a lasting...

Investigating landing and take-off contact dynamics of host-seeking Anopheles coluzzii malaria mosquitoes using frustrated total internal reflection

To avoid detection during a bloodmeal, a mosquito must minimize contact forces during attachment and detachment contact while maintaining sufficient grip to insert their proboscis and feed. Measuring contact mechanics of the mosquito is technically challenging due to the small length and force scales. Because of this, many aspects of blood...

Parasite Detection using Hyperspectral Microscopy: Hyperspectral microscopy in Malaria and Schistosoma diagnostics: the approximation and detection of spectral signatures

Parasitic diseases such as malaria remain a mayor burden on global health. One of the biggest challenges still to be overcome is that of inadequate diagnoses. This research explores the opportunities that Hyperspectral Imaging yields in this field. The first goal is to estimate the spectral signature of Malaria parasites in non-stained or Giemsa...

Enhancing the quality of field prepared malaria blood smears

In this thesis, a new method towards enhancing the quality of field prepared malaria blood smears is developed through the use of a newly designed, innovative tool. Malaria is a life threatening febrile illness caused by parasites that are transmitted to people through bites of infected mosquitoes. If the symptoms are not treated within 24 hours...

Automating malaria diagnosis: a machine learning approach: Erythrocyte segmentation and parasite identification in thin blood smear microscopy images using convolutional neural networks

Reliable malaria diagnosis techniques that are suitable for point-of-care testing in high burden areas, are vital for effective treatment and monitoring of the disease. Identification of malaria parasites in Giemsa stained blood slides is currently the most widely accepted technique, but its availability is limited by the need for highly trained...

Compact design of a planar compliant XY precision positioning stage: For automated malaria diagnosis using a microscope

Malaria remains a major burden on global health, with roughly 200 million reported cases worldwide and more than 400,000 deaths per year. According to the World Health Organization, ninety-three percent of all deaths due to the disease occurred in developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa. This large percentage is directly correlated to the...

Potential enrichments in malaria diagnostics: hyperspectral imaging and group-equivariant neural networks

Proper diagnostics are essential in the combat against severe diseases which mainly have big impacts in remote areas in poor countries. A focus direction within the NC4I group at DCSC, Delft University of Technology, is the development of new imaging modalities and the design and implementation of smarter algorithms for improved detection of...

Robust Low-cost Planar Positioning Stage: For Smartphone Microscope to Diagnose Malaria in Developing Countries

In 2018, there were more than 200 million reported cases of malaria worldwide, most of which were in Africa. Adequate diagnostics are required to properly treat the disease. According to the WHO, microscopic examination of a blood smear is the Gold Standard of malaria diagnosis. Currently, it is a labor-intensive process requiring trained...

Developing a Product-Service-System for the MTego mosquito trap

This report describes the results of a thesis for PreMal BV, a start-up company that develops mosquito traps. It is the companies mission to capture anopheles mosquitoes before they can bite and contribute to reducing malaria transmission in Africa and other malaria zones around the world. To be able to achieve their goal, PreMal aims to...

De invloed van medicijngebruik en infectiehistorie op het gedrag van een malaria infectie in een persoon

In dit verslag beschrijven we met behulp van een wiskundig model hoe een malaria infectie zich ontwikkelt in een persoon. We gebruiken hiervoor een stelsel van gewone differentiaalvergelijkingen, wat beschreven wordt in een artikel van Mary Bushman. Hierbij volgen we veranderingen in verschillende aantallen die een rol spelen bij een infectie,...

Smart optics against smart parasites: Towards point-of-care optical diagnosis of malaria and urogenital schistosomiasis

Malaria remains an important cause of high morbidity and mortality worldwide. According to World Health Organisation (WHO) malaria report for 2017, malaria accounted for the death of 435,000 people. It is the leading cause of death among pregnant women and little children. 11% of maternal and 20% of under–five deaths are attributed to malaria...

Development towards a robust low-cost Fourier Ptychographic microscope: For the detection of malaria parasites

This thesis discusses developments towards a low-cost Fourier Ptychographic microscope for label free imaging of malaria parasites.<br/>A review of the morphology and life cycle of malaria and the main diagnostic methods for its detection is followed by an introduction to Fourier Ptychography with emphasis on the underlying imaging principles...

Adapting a mosquito trap for future deployment in African communities

Malaria is a major problem in sub-Saharan Africa, with as a result over 400,000 deaths each year. With pesticide resistance on the rise, new methods have to be developed that will reduce malaria transmission. The mosquito trapping method, in combination with bed nets, has been proved to be effective. The M-Tego is a mosquito trap embodiment...

Design of an Odour Baited Mosquito Trap for Malaria Prevention in Africa: Design of an innovative high performance odour baited mosquito trap for use as a healthcare tool for prevention of transmission of malaria and reduction in local vector population.

If used alongside insecticide treated bed nets, an innovative odour baited mosquito trap with a high capture performance could contribute massively to the prevention of malaria in Africa and the eradication of the disease. This report outlines the research and design processes carried out by Henry Fairbairn, with the support of a supervisory...

Automated malaria diagnosis using convolutional neural networks in an on-field setting: The analysis of low quality smartphone based microscope images

This study focuses on automated malaria diagnosis in low quality blood smear images, captured by a low-cost smartphone based microscope system. The aim is to localize and classify the healthy and infected erythrocytes (red blood cells) in order to evaluate the parasitaemia in an infected blood smear. Due to the lower quality of the smartphone...

A roadmap for development of a smart malaria diagnostic device: use and acceptance of the Excelscope by healthcare professionals in Nigeria

Malaria is a life-threatening parasitic disease and the leading cause for high morbidity rates in developing countries. In Nigeria, the chosen context of this study, over 90% of the population is at risk of malaria infection, leading to 60% of the outpatient visits in Nigerian healthcare facilities. Accurate diagnostics are not available for the...

Designing a bio actives application system for the antimalarial eave tube project in Ivory Coast

The eave tube project in Ivory Coast is set up by In2Care and is currently funded by a grant from the European Union and the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation. In2Care developed a new method to make housing mosquito-proof and simultaneously target mosquitoes with insecticide as they try to enter the house. The test study in Ivory Coast should show...

The design of an autonomous malaria diagnostic system

The development of a mobile malaria diagnosis system capable of working in POC situations.