PocketELISA: A low-cost portable ELISA reader based on image analysis over PDA platform for clinical diagnose in medical veterinary

ELISA (enzyme linked inmuno-specific assay) diagnostic plates are widely used for the screening of viral infections. Currently, plates are measured either photometrically, which is costly, or manually, unacceptably subjective and dependent on training and illumination. In this paper, we propose an instrument for ubiquitously reading out plates by digital analysis of images. The main challenge is designing a versatile platform using standard, low-cost elements, such as PDAs or embedded PCs, open libraries, and consumer-grade digital cameras. All these alternative solutions can provide similar results with small differences in the final solution and costs. The purpose of this paper is the use of a PDA (personal digital assistant) witch includes a digital camera to constitute a portable and low-cost analyzer of ELISA plates, able to be used in field applications. Tests were performed using several plates from routine monitoring in cattle of Brucelosis, red nose (Infectious Bovine Rhinotraqueitis, IBR) and Bovine Virus Diarrhoea (BVD). This work shows promise as technique to improve the efficiency of clinical interpretation ELISA diagnostic plates.