Proper diagnosis everywhere.
By Dr. Ami Neuberger
You are a young doctor who, for the first time, goes on a medical mission in a rural area of Sub-Saharan Africa. You have been dreaming about this since you were a young kid. But now, with endless work in a small village clinic, you become frustrated. So many tests and medications are simply unavailable, and at times you have to resort to making educated guesses as to what the patients actually have.
Most of the villagers come in with infectious disease; they bring their kids with fever. Since you have no available diagnostics, you give everyone antibiotics and anti malarial medications. Despite your best intentions, you are now contributing to the world wide problem of antimicrobial drug resistance….
Now imagine that you could perform a complete blood count right there. In the little hut which serves as a makeshift clinic. No need for electricity, or a laboratory technician, or internet connectivity. In a few minutes you would know the white blood cell count of the sick kid. High white blood cell count – probably a bacterial infection. Low blood cell count and typical symptoms – probably a viral infection – no need for antibiotics.
In addition, you will be able to screen kids for Anaemia, which usually results from dietary deficiencies or from parasitic infections, and in turn leads to impaired growth. Find the kids with Anaemia and make sure they are getting enough iron, and treatment for their parasitic infections. In a few years, an entire generation could become much healthier.
The new RevDx system offers you just that – the ability to quickly perform these tests everywhere, any time.