Decision support system for the classification of Downey cells as a pre-diagnostic tool

Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) is a member of the herpes virus that causes infectious mononucleosis (IM). Downey cell is the atypical lymphocyte of IM and can be seen in various conditions. Peripheral blood smear (PBS) microscopic evaluation is used to identify Downey cells. A lack of experienced professionals or professional errors may obstruct early and accurate diagnostics for the microscopic evaluation. The main objective of this study is to create a decision support system by digitizing the PBS samples. A general tool providing an inexpensive and measurable solution is envisioned to analyze the PBS samples in detail to give alerting flags to prevent missing Downey cells in manual analysis.