LeishCare®: A Software Designed for the Management of Individuals with Leishmaniases

Abstract

The aims of this study were to describe a smartphone app aimed at healthcare professionals who work in areas endemic for visceral and tegumentary leishmaniases, and to report the user's perception of the app in these areas. The software, called LeishCare ® , has the following features: data registration, image filter to record the evolution of skin lesions using photos, calculation of a score set to identify the risk of death from visceral leishmaniasis, and guides to the diseases. LeishCare ® was made available to healthcare professionals in endemic municipalities in Brazil, and the perception of potential users was evaluated at baseline and after 6 and 12 months. In the first meeting, 96 (94.1%) of the 102 professionals who knew the app reported positive expectations for its use. The installation of LeishCare ® on the individual device and the evaluation of user perception were completed at 6 months with 16 users and at 12 months with 20 users. More than 90% of the professionals evaluated in both assessments found the information of the app useful. The features related to the calculation of visceral leishmaniasis severity score, and the guides to leishmaniases were the most frequently accessed. Users reported competence gain attributed to the app for all items evaluated. In conclusion, Leish-Care ® was found to be a promising tool to help healthcare professionals in endemic areas with leishmaniasis management.

mHealth Monitoring of Treatment of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Patients: A Community-Based Implementation Study

“…12 Similarly, the LeishCare app was developed to allow health care professionals to record the evolution of CL skin lesions using photos, calculate a score that is defined to identify the risk of death from visceral leishmaniasis, and provide guidance in the management of these diseases in settings where both occur. 11 SkinApp supports health workers in peripheral locations in recognizing the early signs and symptoms of skin diseases, including skin NTDs, and to opportunely initiate treatment or refer patients for more advanced diagnostic evaluation. 13 The Guaral+ST app evaluated in this report aims to assist and empower CHLs and health care professionals in monitoring treatment of patients in remote rural areas.…”

“…These apps are intended mainly for use by health professionals. 11 – 13 The “Guaral” mHealth app for presumptive diagnosis of CL developed by our research team for use by community health volunteers was previously shown to reduce the time to diagnosis from 8 to 4 weeks. 14 , 15 Recently, a complementary mobile app named “Guaral: seguimiento a tratamiento (Guaral+ST)” was designed and developed to facilitate monitoring of treatment and assessment of therapeutic response in CL patients.…”

Sensitivity and Specificity of the Remote Evaluation of Therapeutic Response in Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Using Photographs from a Mobile Application

“…tools for leishmaniasis can help close this knowledge gap and improve clinical management and epidemiological surveillance of leishmaniasis and other skin neglected tropical diseases. 10,[23][24][25][26] This study reports the validation of the remote evaluation of therapeutic response in CL, using photographs captured by a mobile app. Our results show high sensitivity and specificity of this approach; the use of relatively low-cost smartphones thus has the potential to improve timely identification and management of therapeutic failure.…”

Nanomedicine-based strategies to improve treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis

“…Cost-effective and easy-to-use smartphone application software may assist health workers in remote settings in detecting the presence and severity of the different forms of leishmaniasis as well as monitoring wound healing. Da Silva and colleagues developed smartphone application software that evaluated the severity of VL based on images acquired by physicians [196]. Over 90% of the 102 health professionals who used their software reported positive expectations and an increase in competency in the treatment of VL.…”