Smart Devices for Effective Tuberculosis Diagnosis

Tuberculosis (TB) is a serious infectious disease generally caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB). It is transmissible in nature that spreads through airborne droplets. It affects mainly the lungs and also to the other parts of the body such as kidneys, spine, brain, etc. The disease is more harmful and a life risk to people who are consuming tobacco or are affected by other diseases such as diabetes, HIV, etc. Chest pain, blood in the cough, discomfort when breathing, coughing from three weeks or longer are the general signs of TB. To identify TB, the number of tests, that is, skin, blood, sputum, chest x-ray, etc., are recommended by physicians. Generally, digital chest radiography, GeneXpert machine, and BacT/ALERT 3D devices are used for identification of TB. The smart devices play a crucial role in the medical applications by providing precise disease detection, treatment, patient monitoring, and healthcare management. Some of the advantages of the smart devices are they save time and give accurate results that helps both the experts and the patients. Taking into consideration the effects and causes of TB, this chapter focuses on the role of different smart devices for identification of TB along with its diagnosis. Considering the recent advancements of machine learning (ML) approaches for disease diagnosis, the chapter also provides the usage of ML approaches integrated with devices for effective diagnosis and therapeutics evaluation of TB.