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. 2022 Aug:37:100513.
doi: 10.1016/j.sbsr.2022.100513. Epub 2022 Aug 6.

Temperature thresholds and screening of febrile people by non-contact measurement of the face using infrared thermography - A methodology proposal

Pablo Rodrigues Muniz  1 , Josemar Simão  2 , Reginaldo Barbosa Nunes  1 , Hércules Lázaro Morais Campos  3 , Natália Queirós Santos  4 , Andriele Ninke  5 , João Thomaz Lemos  1
Affiliations

Temperature thresholds and screening of febrile people by non-contact measurement of the face using infrared thermography - A methodology proposal

Pablo Rodrigues Muniz et al. Sens Biosensing Res. 2022 Aug.

Abstract

Recent outbreaks of infectious diseases such as Covid-19 that have fever as one of the symptoms drive the search for systems to track people with fever quickly and non-contact, also known as sanitary barriers. The use of non-contact infrared-based instruments, especially the infrared thermal imager, has widely spread. However, the screening process has presented low performance. This article addresses the choice of regions of interest on the human face for the analysis of the individual's fever, deals with the temperature thresholds used for this analysis, as well as the way to issue the recommendation to screen the person or not. The data collection and statistical analysis of temperatures of 198 volunteers allowed us to study and define the most appropriate face regions as targets for these barriers, as well as the temperature thresholds to be used for screening for each of these regions. Besides, the paper presents a probabilistic method based on the metrological quality of the sanitary barrier to the emission of recommendation for screening potentially febrile people. The developed method was tested in feverish and non-febrile volunteers, showing complete assertiveness in the tested cases.

Keywords: Covid-19; Fever; Infrared image sensors; Mass screening; Thermal sensors.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Regions of interest (ROIs) for the research: 1 – temporal and supratrochlear commissure (forehead); 2 – medial palpebral commissure (corner of the eye); 3 – external auditory meatus (ear canal)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Temperature distribution for the right external auditory meatus – R-EAM (mean = 35.6°C; standard deviation = 0.9°C; temperature threshold for feverish state = 37.1°C). Source: Elaborated by the authors.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Probability of a feverish state with a measured temperature of 37.0°C on the medial palpebral commissure (MPC), using a standard uncertainty thermal imager of 0.5°C (a) and 1.0°C (b).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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