IoT PCR for Pandemic Disease Detection and Its Spread Monitoring

Abstract

During infectious diseases outbreaks, the centers for disease control need to monitor particular areas. Considerable effort has been invested into the development of portable, user-friendly and cost-effective systems for point-of-care (POC) diagnostics which could also create an internet of things (IoT) for healthcare via globe network. However, at present IoT based on a functional POC instrument is not available. Here we show fast, user-friendly, and affordable IoT system based on a miniaturized polymerase chain reaction device. We demonstrated the system’s capability by amplification of either complementary deoxyribonucleic acid (cDNA) or ribonucleic acid (RNA) of the dengue fever virus (DENV). The result data were then automatically uploaded via a Bluetooth interface to an Android-based smartphone and further wirelessly sent to global network, instantly making the test results available anywhere in the world. The IoT system presented here could become an essential tool for healthcare centers to tackle infectious disease outbreaks identified either by DNA or RNA. Its use can be of side scope, since it can be modified to be compatible with other sensing methods.