Indian doctors develop software which distinguishes malaria from dengue

Indian doctors in collaboration with a Russian lab have developed software to differentiate dengue, malaria and other viral fevers, otherwise a challenging task due to their similar symptoms, an official said Friday.

The software, developed by a team of doctors from Sir Ganga Ram Hospital (SGRH) and Lab Tech Ltd in St Petersburg, is expected to aid in faster detection, reduction in cost of treatment and minimisation of antibiotic resistance as only fever-specific antibiotics need to be given to patients.

"Doctors face challenges in distinguishing malaria and dengue as both present similar symptoms like high fever, loss of appetite and chill," said Manorama Bhargava, chairperson, department of hematology, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Delhi.

Bhargava, who led the team of doctors, said dengue, malaria and other viral infections peak in northern India around the monsoon and post monsoon seasons.

"This leads to recommendation of battery of diagnostic tests and start of antibiotics for all three groups till a specific diagnosis is made, leading to escalation in treatment costs and use of unnecessary antibiotics," she said.

A research paper in this regard has been published in June 15 edition of International Journal of Laboratory Hematology - the Official journal of the International Society for Laboratory Hematology.

The research is based on a study carried out after analysing 324 samples of patients suffering from dengue, malaria as well as other illness that mimic the two.