Researchers are using smartphones to control the spread of tuberculosis

Public health workers depend on face-to-face interaction with patients. Now, they're turning to smartphones to improve access to monitoring services.

Tuberculosis, one of the world's deadliest diseases, is a major problem near the southern border of the U.S., Stat reported Tuesday. The infectious disease killed 1.7 million people across the world in 2016, and precise, monitored treatment is one of the only ways to keep tuberculosis from spreading.

But many border region patients are frequently traveling to Mexico, writes Stat, and health-care workers can't always keep tabs on their medication intake. Smartphones are helping to solve that issue with video observation apps like SureAdhere, which allow patients to send encrypted videos to public health workers in order to record and verify proper dosage.

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In regions where public health facilities are far away, especially, a digital solution could do wonders for proper monitoring. Patients who have used the option so far have told researchers they enjoyed increased autonomy and privacy, and public health departments say it saves money. One of the primary drawbacks, of course, is that not everyone has access to a smartphone or reliable internet access, particularly in developing countries where tuberculosis rates are much higher.

For now, use of the technology is on the rise in the U.S., and a two-year study of the video monitoring in San Diego, California, and Tijuana, Mexico, showed it was just as effective as in-person observation. Read more at Stat.