On 2008-06-06 14:50:35 -0400, sal2 <sal2 from sal2.com> said:
> Greetings All
>> When doctors take samples of blood/urine to find out what bacteria/virus/
> drug they have. What type of machine is used to find out what type of
> bacteria/virus/drug that is in their system? I'm trying to find out the
> machine they use and the database they use to cross check bacteria/
> viruses/drugs against each other.
>> tia sal2
Are you thinking that it is as easy to pour blood or urine into a
machine and out comes an answer? No that is not how it works and it is
a very complex set of procedures to determine what infection a person
has.
Bacteria are isolated by culture, which means that a sample is placed
on some kind of nutrient broth or agar and in a few days a
microbiologist or a technologist will examine the growth and determine
what kind of bacteria it is. There are thousands of different bacteria
and the scientist must use his or her knowledge of bacteria to
determine what tests to use to identify it. My "database" is basically
in my head! If I have to use a reference, I usually use Bergy's Manual
or the American Society of Microbiology manual of clinical
microbiology. Once it is identified then we can apply different
antibiotics to the culture to see which ones will kill it.
Viruses are also grown in cultures, but of a very different matrix -
they must be living cells for viruses to grow. I can't answer to how
the different viruses are identified since I've never worked in a
virology lab.
And what kinds of drugs are you talking about - again there are many
complex methods for measuring drugs in a sample.
Maybe you need to do some more research on this subject and ask the
questions again.
--
John Gentile MS, M(ASCP)
Laboratory Information Mgr.
VA Medical Center
Providence, RI
yjgent from cox.net
