Students develop therapy device for skin disease

Leishmaniasis is a skin disease caused by parasites that occurs worldwide in plants and animals. It is above all common in poorer regions of South America, Asia and Africa. This infection results in severe rashes on the skin but is generally curable, though this has required expensive treatments until now.

A therapy device developed by two students at the ZHAW School of Engineering in Winterthur might be a solution to the problem. Their prototype costs around 100 Swiss francs to make and could therefore easily be used in developing countries, the university reported in a press release. The technology applied by the students involves attacking the parasites with heat by shining an infrared light on to the skin. The device encompasses two microcontrollers, an infrared lamp and a contactless temperature sensor in the casing of a 3D printer.

Tests have already demonstrated that the parasites begin to die at a temperature of 40 degrees. “However, the optimal duration and degree of heat has not yet been fully researched,” explains ZHAW student Giaele Quadri. The new device therefore allows time and temperature to be freely selected, via a mobile phone app, for example.

“The developed prototype is not only affordable, but to my knowledge also the first hand-held treatment device to use infrared radiation,” comments ZHAW researcher Mathias Bonmarin. The prototype will now undergo testing at the University of Lausanne.