The human tongue can help the physician offer a diagnosis even though it may betray signs of illness, which combined with other symptoms such as a cough, fever, headache or bowel habits.

Smoothness and "beefiness" might reveal vitamin B12, iron, or folate deficiency, and anemia. Black discoloration could be indicative of fungal overgrowth in HIV patients or prolonged antibiotic use. Longitudinal furrows on the tongue are associated with syphilis. Ulcers may indicate the presence of Crohn's disease or colitis and various other conditions. The team's automated diagnostic, however, utilizes the condition of the tongue in combination with other symptoms to identify whether a patient has any of various illnesses: common cold, flu, bronchitis, streptococcal throat infection, sinusitis, allergies, asthma, pulmonary edema, food poisoning and diverticulitis.
The current system allows diagnosis of fourteen distinct conditions but the team adds that they will be able to add eye images and use those as an additional hard input for their neural network and so extend its repertoire significantly.
Source-Eurekalert