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Published 18:21 IST, September 30th 2021

Smart devices can help spot viral infections & COVID, claim US researchers

This will be possible by monitoring heart rate, temperature, electrical pulses on the skin and physical activity, which all the smart devices are capable of

Reported by: Harsh Vardhan
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IMAGE: Unsplash/Pixabay | Image: self

In a new development, scientists from North Carolina-based Duke University have claimed that they can use the past data from smart accessories like Apple Watches and Fitbits to diagnose viral infections today. As per Daily Mail’s report, this diagnosis will be possible by monitoring heart rate, temperature, electrical pulses on the skin and physical activity, which all the smart devices are capable of. This new development is believed to be the next step for contact tracing and a possible way to avoid covid spreading. 

Diagnosis successful up to 80-90%

When a person is about to fall ill due to a viral infection, his/her body gets warmer while the heart rate goes up. This new method of diagnosis reportedly works on an algorithm that factors in these aspects along with sleep or physical activity, just to rule out any possibilities other than the rest two. 

Published in The JAMA Network, the study for diagnosis, which was conducted in two phases in 2015 and 2017, involved 63 volunteers who were made to wear a fitness device called an E4 band. The experts from hospitals in the US and the UK deliberately infected one faction of the volunteers with influenza strain H1N1 and the other with rhinovirus. 

Reportedly, 39 volunteers who were exposed to the H1N1 strain were isolated in a hospital for eight days and monitored for 11 days after the day of infection. On the other hand, 24 volunteers exposed to the rhinovirus were not isolated but monitored for a total of nine days. Daily Mail reported, that out of 31 patients who developed the influenza infection, 91% of them were predicted to have developed the symptoms just 12 hours after they were infected. Besides, data from the smartwatches took around the same time to predict rhinovirus infection with 83% accuracy in 18 individuals.

Can outbreaks be prevented?

In an interview with MailOnline, Lead researcher Emilia Grzesiak informed that the scientists monitored movement data to determine how much someone was resting. She revealed that a higher heart rate generally points to higher physical activity but it is a bad sign of infection if the heart rate is up even during times of inactivity. 

She went on to say that this method can serve as a screening tool to control outbreaks by identifying people who might be unknowingly ill or are about to fall ill, thus preventing widespread cases of COVID. 

(Image: Unsplash/Pixabay)

Updated 18:21 IST, September 30th 2021