Now, there is a new smartphone app available that will allow parents to check their newborn babies for jaundice. On Wednesday, researchers from University of Washington have tested the app called as BiliCam.

Researchers said the app can be used by parents to screen their little ones for jaundice at home. If parents get positive result then they should consult the pediatrician and if not then it can be said that their visit to the pediatrician has been saved. The child also escapes the needless visit to a clinic. Many illnesses are acquired by infants when they go for hospital checkup.

James Taylor, medical director of the newborn nursery at the University of Washington Medical Center, said, "This smartphone test is really for babies in the first few days after they go home. A parent or health care provider can get an accurate picture of bilirubin to bridge the gap after leaving the hospital".

In September, the International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing is going to take place in Seattle. The development team will present the project and result of trial on humans at the conference.

The app works by detecting yellow discoloration in the infant's skin. There can be changes in the lighting condition or camera differences. Therefore, users have to put a standardized calibration card on infant's belly, which gets captured in the photograph.

Due to the accumulation of a chemical called bilirubin, skin gets yellow representing the disease called jaundice. Experts shared that bilirubin is a natural breakdown product of heme, a chemical having iron that carries oxygen molecules in red blood cells.

Jaundice can happen to many infants when their livers do match up to the requirement of the heme recycling circle. It is important to treat jaundice as otherwise it can cause brain damage and in rare condition it leads to a deadly disease called kernicterus.