# A Transfer Learning and Explainable Solution to Detect mpox from Smartphones images

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2305.18489 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.18489/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 29 of its 81 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 29 May 2023.

## Builds on (most cited first, 29 of 29)

- [Deep Residual Learning for Image Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1512.03385/) (2015)
- [Very Deep Convolutional Networks for Large-Scale Image Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1409.1556/) (2014)
- [Grad-CAM: Visual Explanations from Deep Networks via Gradient-based Localization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1610.02391/) (2016)
- [Rethinking the Inception Architecture for Computer Vision](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1512.00567/) (2015)
- [MobileNetV2: Inverted Residuals and Linear Bottlenecks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1801.04381/) (2018)
- [Going Deeper with Convolutions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1409.4842/) (2014)
- [MobileNets: Efficient Convolutional Neural Networks for Mobile Vision Applications](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1704.04861/) (2017)
- [Deep Compression: Compressing Deep Neural Networks with Pruning, Trained Quantization and Huffman Coding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1510.00149/) (2015)
- [Learning both Weights and Connections for Efficient Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1506.02626/) (2015)
- [Searching for MobileNetV3](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.02244/) (2019)
- [Inception-v4, Inception-ResNet and the Impact of Residual Connections on Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1602.07261/) (2016)
- [A Comprehensive Survey on Transfer Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1911.02685/) (2019)
- [Learning Transferable Architectures for Scalable Image Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1707.07012/) (2017)
- [MnasNet: Platform-Aware Neural Architecture Search for Mobile](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1807.11626/) (2018)
- [Hyperband: A Novel Bandit-Based Approach to Hyperparameter Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1603.06560/) (2016)
- [Network In Network](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1312.4400/) (2013)
- [A Survey of Convolutional Neural Networks: Analysis, Applications, and Prospects](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2004.02806/) (2020)
- [Deep Convolutional Neural Networks for Computer-Aided Detection: CNN Architectures, Dataset Characteristics and Transfer Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1602.03409/) (2016)
- [What makes ImageNet good for transfer learning?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1608.08614/) (2016)
- [Quantization Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1911.09464/) (2019)
- [Explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) in deep learning-based medical image analysis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.10912/) (2021)
- [Explainable deep learning models in medical image analysis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.13799/) (2020)
- [Sounds of COVID-19: exploring realistic performance of audio-based digital testing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.15523/) (2021)
- [Monkeypox Skin Lesion Detection Using Deep Learning Models: A Feasibility Study](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.03342/) (2022)
- [Monkeypox virus detection using pre-trained deep learning-based approaches](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.04444/) (2022)
- [Image Data collection and implementation of deep learning-based model in detecting Monkeypox disease using modified VGG16](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.01862/) (2022)
- [Monkeypox Image Data collection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.01774/) (2022)
- [L3-Net Deep Audio Embeddings to Improve COVID-19 Detection from Smartphone Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.07682/) (2022)
- [Ultrasound Detection of Subquadricipital Recess Distension](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.12089/) (2022)

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [A Cascaded Dilated Convolution Approach for Mpox Lesion Classification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.10106/) (2024)
- [Explainable AI-Driven Detection of Human Monkeypox Using Deep Learning and Vision Transformers: A Comprehensive Analysis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.01429/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

In recent months, the monkeypox (mpox) virus -- previously endemic in a limited area of the world -- has started spreading in multiple countries until being declared a ``public health emergency of international concern'' by the World Health Organization. The alert was renewed in February 2023 due to a persisting sustained incidence of the virus in several countries and worries about possible new outbreaks. Low-income countries with inadequate infrastructures for vaccine and testing administration are particularly at risk. A symptom of mpox infection is the appearance of skin rashes and eruptions, which can drive people to seek medical advice. A technology that might help perform a preliminary screening based on the aspect of skin lesions is the use of Machine Learning for image classification. However, to make this technology suitable on a large scale, it should be usable directly on mobile devices of people, with a possible notification to a remote medical expert. In this work, we investigate the adoption of Deep Learning to detect mpox from skin lesion images. The proposal leverages Transfer Learning to cope with the scarce availability of mpox image datasets. As a first step, a homogenous, unpolluted, dataset is produced by manual selection and preprocessing of available image data. It will also be released publicly to researchers in the field. Then, a thorough comparison is conducted amongst several Convolutional Neural Networks, based on a 10-fold stratified cross-validation. The best models are then optimized through quantization for use on mobile devices; measures of classification quality, memory footprint, and processing times validate the feasibility of our proposal. Additionally, the use of eXplainable AI is investigated as a suitable instrument to both technically and clinically validate classification outcomes.