AI model can tell COVID-19 from flu and other diseases

Chinese researchers published a paper in the journal Nature Communications this month proposing an artificial intelligence model that can help doctors quickly differentiate between COVID-19, influenza and pneumonia with high accuracy. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, numerous AI systems have been developed and used for front-line detection and diagnosis, such as analyzing chest X-rays and CT scans. However, with flu season approaching, if COVID-19 and influenza were to break out together, causing the CT diagnosis workload to skyrocket, differentiating between the two respiratory illnesses would prove challenging for doctors. A new AI model may provide the answer. Researchers from Tsinghua University and Union Hospital in Wuhan, Hubei province, which is affiliated with Huazhong University of Science and Technology, have developed and evaluated an AI system using a large data set with more than 11,000 CT volumes from cases of COVID-19, influenza, non-viral community-acquired pneumonia, and non-pneumonia.