Computer-Aided Diagnosis of Schistosomiasis: Automated Schistosoma Egg Detection

Schistosomiasis is a parasitic infection affecting more than 200 million persons in developing countries. The parasite multiplication and transmission are very fast and constitute a heavy burden to the public health and medical services. The parasites are characterized by different shaped eggs. Conventional detection techniques consume a considerable amount of time and are costly. Human factors affect the accuracy of the results, particularly in mass screening campaigns. This article shows how to detect the isolated schistosoma egg by developing an algorithm applying image processing techniques. The designed algorithm is based on calculation of cross-correlation coefficient of the 2 sets of invariant moments for both the reference and the sample images. Using 0.99 as a threshold value of cross-correlation coefficient, the algorithm decides whether an egg is detected or not. This algorithm is implemented using MATLAB software. A graphical user interface was designed for the implemented algorithm. Ultimately, the designed software is capable of automatic detection of schistosoma eggs. The detection accuracy of our algorithm is 100% as compared with conventional techniques.