An expert system for HIV screening using visual prolog

Abstract

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is one of the most challenging health problems of this era. Since the first incidence of AIDS was reported in Nigeria in 1986, the number of persons infected with the deadly disease had risen remarkably. By the end of 2010, it was estimated that over 3.1 million people in Nigeria were living with the virus. Globally, 17-51% of people living with HIV know of their status. Thus, the need to design a system that would assist physicians in medical screening has become imperative and hence cannot be over emphasized. In this work, a user-friendly medical expert system for screening HIV was designed using Visual Prolog, to aid medical practitioners and health care workers in the process of screening individuals of HIV. This would in turn help in solving the challenges faced by people most especially in communities where there is shortage or unavailability of medical personnel, as it provides very rapid method of prognosis with much accuracy and reduces the hours patients spend in hospitals and boring routine tasks associated with the existing method of HIV screening. This expert system is user-friendly and carries out prognosis based on patients’ symptoms.