Myths and methodologies: degrees of freedom – limitations of infrared thermographic screening for Covid‐19 and other infections

Igor B. Mekjavic, Michael J. Tipton

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    Abstract

    Around the planet, in many different scenarios, skin temperature is being used as a surrogate measure of deep body (core) temperature in the assessment of whether an individual is infected with the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2), which causes the coronavirus disease (Covid‐19, or C‐19), as indicated by the presence of fever. The key question is whether this is a valid methodology. If it is not, we run the risk of falsely excluding individuals from places they may want, or need, to go. We also run the risk of falsely allowing people into places where they can spread the undetected infection they have. In this review, we explore these and associated questions.

    We establish the limited utility of the current methodology for the mass screening of individuals for Covid‐19 related fever using infrared thermography. We propose an alternative method that should be more sensitive.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)733-742
    Number of pages10
    JournalExperimental Physiology
    Volume107
    Issue number7
    Early online date12 Jan 2021
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Jul 2022

    Keywords

    • Covid-19
    • fever
    • screening
    • thermography

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