Common Techniques Used for Automated Diagnosis in Medical Microbiology

Several manual activities have undergone significant changes by introduction of automated techniques, which have unquestionably improved performance. Various manual tasks have now been partially or entirely replaced by automated and labour-saving instrumentation in clinical laboratories as a result of the widespread and multifaceted advancements in automation technologies. The diagnostic techniques employed in infectious diseases should be rapid, precise, simple and cost-effective. A rapid diagnosis can be crucial in initiating appropriate antibiotic treatment. Increased rate of serious infections by multidrug resistant bacteria, lead to a high incidence of error in antibiotic treatment. Current chapter elaborates several semi-automated and totally automated techniques, which have been developed for microbiology clinical laboratories.