Remote interpretation of microbiology specimens based on transmitted still images

A pilot study was carried out to examine the feasibility of the remote interpretation of microbiology specimens, that is, micro-organisms grown on agar in Petri dishes. The objective of our study was to decide whether still images contained enough information for microbiology specialists to identify the microorganisms accurately. A representative sample of microbiology specimens grown on the most commonly used agar media was used. Still images were captured using a video camera and a PC-based system. The results from a pilot study with the first video camera were discouraging, the interpretations differing in five out of 22 specimens; results with a second video camera were also disappointing. Images were then captured on photographic film, at a considerably higher resolution than images captured by the digitizer board in the PC. Again, however, the results were disappointing. We conclude that interpretation of microbiology specimens based exclusively on visual information is problematical. Remote microbiology interpretation in the future will require images of higher information content (e.g., including three-dimensional information), and will probably require additional information as well, from other senses, such as smell.