Explainable Deep Learning Approach for Mpox Skin Lesion Detection with Grad-CAM

Mpox is a viral zoonotic disease that presents with skin lesions similar to other conditions like chickenpox, measles, and hand-foot-mouth disease, making accurate diagnosis challenging. Early and precise detection of mpox is critical for effective treatment and outbreak control, particularly in resource-limited settings where traditional diagnostic methods are often unavailable. While deep learning models have been applied successfully in medical imaging, their use in mpox detection remains underexplored. To address this gap, we developed a deep learning-based approach using the ResNet50v2 model to classify mpox lesions alongside five other skin conditions. We also incorporated Grad-CAM (Gradient-weighted Class Activation Mapping) to enhance model interpretability. The results show that the ResNet50v2 model achieved an accuracy of 99.33%, precision of 99.34%, sensitivity of 99.33%, and an F1-score of 99.32% on a dataset of 1,594 images. Grad-CAM visualizations confirmed that the model focused on relevant lesion areas for its predictions. While the model performed exceptionally well overall, it struggled with misclassifications between visually similar diseases, such as chickenpox and mpox. These results demonstrate that AI-based diagnostic tools can provide reliable, interpretable support for clinicians, particularly in settings with limited access to specialized diagnostics. However, future work should focus on expanding datasets and improving the model's capacity to distinguish between similar conditions.