Infrared thermometers or thermal cameras have been used extensively to screen febrile patients and travelers at the time of pandemic for non-contact and rapid monitoring of body temperature. This suggests the need to assess additional physiological parameters to increase the sensitivity and specificity of non-invasive biosensors. Other studies reported that screening other vital signs such as heart and respiratory rates can lead to more robust methods for early infection detection.Ĭonclusions: Studies evaluating IRT showed varied results in its efficacy for screening infectious diseases. Airport mass screening using IRT was conducted during occurrences of SARS, Dengue, Swine Flu, and Ebola with reported sensitivities as low as zero.
Results: Studies have reported on the unreliability of IRT due to poor sensitivity and specificity in detecting true core body temperature and its inability to identify asymptomatic carriers. Additional literature searches were done to evaluate IRT in comparison to traditional core body temperature measurements and assess the benefits of measuring additional vital signs for infectious disease screening. The objective of this review is to evaluate the efficacy of IRT for screening infectious diseases with specific applications to COVID-19.Īpproach: A literature review was performed in Google Scholar, PubMed, and ScienceDirect to search for studies evaluating IRT screening from 2002 to present using relevant keywords. Since the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2003, infrared thermography (IRT) has been considered a gold standard method for screening febrile individuals at the time of pandemics. Purpose: The recent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, which spread across the globe in a very short period of time, revealed that the transmission control of disease is a crucial step to prevent an outbreak and effective screening for viral infectious diseases is necessary.
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