A portable, battery-operated fluorescence microscope can easily be used to diagnose

tuberculosis (TB).

The microscope has been tested on samples from patients with TB and performed as well
as a reference-standard fluorescence microscope. The microscope weighs 1.1 kg and is
inexpensive, transportable, and flexible. It could be used in clinics in developing
countries that have limited access to laboratory equipment and may lack electricity.

The Global Focus microscope uses a battery-operated LED-based flashlight as the light
source and achieves a maximum spatial resolution of 0.8 µm at 1000× magnification in
fluorescence mode. The resolution of the microscope is 3.2 times larger than the
predicted resolution of 0.25 µm for the system. No condenser lens is used and the
parabolic reflector in the flashlight housing serves to direct and shape light towards the
sample.

The microscope was used to analyze smear samples from 19 patients suspected of having
TB, an infectious disease that usually attacks the lungs and can be fatal if not treated. The
TB smear samples came from Tehran, Iran, and they were tested in The Methodist
Hospital Research Institute (TMHRI; Houston, TX, USA). Slides were stained with
auramine orange and evaluated as being positive or negative for Mycobacterium
tuberculosis with both the new portable fluorescence microscope and a laboratory-grade
fluorescence microscope. Similar findings were obtained in 98.4% of the samples tested
when compared with those from a standard reference microscope. M. tuberculosis bacilli
could be clearly resolved at 400× magnification.

Rebecca Richards-Kortum, Ph.D., at Rice University (Houston, TX, USA), where the
microscope was first constructed, said, "The microscope, which is portable, durable and
inexpensive, could be used to diagnose tuberculosis in community or rural health centers
with limited infrastructure in the developing world, promoting early detection and
successful treatment of the disease.” The results of the study were published online in
2010 in PloS ONE.