DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF AUTOMATED MEDICAL DIAGNOSIS SYSTEM FOR GONORRHEA INFECTION

​​​​​​BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY: Gonorrhea is a sexually transmitted infection due to Neisseria Gonorrhoea (the gonococcus) , which effects primarily the anterior urethra in the male and the urethra and cervix in female. In recent years there has been a great increase in the cases of gonorrhoea throughout the world; approximately 60,000 cases are seen annually in the clinics of England and this figure is even higher in the case of Nigeria and other African countries. After three to five days incubation period in male, the following symptoms and signs will be observed; Dysuria, Urethral discharge (i.e Seropurulent becoming purulent and yellowish) Reddening of urethral meatus etc. Gonococcal protitis common in male homosexuals and is often symptomless. In female, Gonorrhoea is frequently a symptomatic and may never be diagnosed on clinical grounds. Almost three quarters of all female patients attend initially as contacts of male cases and not because of their signs or symptoms. The signs and symptomsin female includes symslight dysuris, slight or moderate vaginal discharge, which is often unnoticed by patient, reddening or acute erosion of the cervix, mucopurulent cervical plug, copious vaginal discharge is more likely to due to concomitant trichomonal vaginities and lower abdominal pain and tenderness is also present, with thickening and tenderness of the affected tube on bimanual palpation. Infertility following bilateral gonococcal salpingitis is now uncommon.

In today’s global economy and competitive environment, Information Technology (IT) is becoming a widely accepted tool for multi-faceted development in all fields. Information Technology (IT) is the bedrock for national survival and development in a rapidly changing global environment. The use of IT on individuals, organization and society is changing everything. The growing usage of IT is rapidly spreading through every sector; its permeating effect is noticeable in institutions, government establishments, business organization, homes and offices etc. The implication of these developments is obvious for the Nigerian societies in the sense that traditional way of doing things must give way. Health Information Management is one of the key factors that contribute to the strengthening of health care delivery in every country. Reliable Health Information Management leads to timely health policies and planning, which improves the general health status of a country, as well as, serving as a vital element for individual health facilities in managing and improving healthcare delivery (Teviu, Aikins, Abdulia, et al., 2012). The use of Information Technologies (ITs) in improving the general management of health records cannot be downplayed. This is affirmed by the ability of ITs to capture, store, retrieve, analyze and transmit large volumes of health records across various locations (Norman, Aikens&Binka, 2011). The adoption of ITs in healthcare delivery, which could generally be referred to as E-health, has not only been crowed generally as eminent in improving the reliability and effectiveness of health records, but it has also been gloated for strengthening healthcare delivery systems through its various tailor-made innovative applications and program such as the Electronic Health Records (Yusif& Soar, 2014).

Although the use of IT’s in healthcare delivery is not a new global paradigm, its adoption and promotion has particularly become relevant in resource constraint developing countries whose healthcare systems are characterized by severe financial, infrastructural, technical and human resource constrictions (Yusif& Soar, 2014). Studies conducted in various developing countries report that the use of ICTs in healthcare delivery leads to better access to healthcare facilities on the part of both patients and healthcare professionals and improved quality of healthcare delivery, which consequently translates into productive labour and the development of the country as a whole (Khan, Shahid, Hedstrom & Anderson, 2012; Cecchini & Scott, 2003; Oyeyemi & Wynn, 2014).