An accurate diagnosis needs special solutions
DualDur medium, developed for laboratory diagnosis of Lyme disease, prepares the blood sample for the dark-field microscopic examination of the pathogenic bacterium. The decades-long experience of Dr. Béla Pál Bózsik, who developed the medium, suggests that a Borrelia-infected blood sample taken on DualDur medium and condensed with the DualDur method is free of blood components and concentrated. This makes the identification of Borrelia, in addition to other spirochetes, possible even under extremely low concentrations by a dark field microscope.
The empirically developed DualDur medium provides high sensitivity and specificity with microscopic and PCR methods, confirming Borrelia infection in artificially inoculated serum samples, while delivering a detectability level that is better with an order of magnitude, than conventional methods.
But in addition to the DualDur medium, another component is needed for quick and accurate diagnostics: automatic artificial dark-field microscopy (Artificial Intelligence Microscopy). The applications of medical image processing are extremely wide and can be customized, from the detection of malignancies on CT images to the detection of bacteria under a microscope. With computer processing and evaluation, image and video recordings made with medical imaging technologies can be analysed faster, more accurately, and in a more consistent and reproducible way than with the traditional manual methods. The outcome of the analysis is usually confirmed by an experienced investigator, thus keeping the judgment of the results in human hands.
The automatic image processing algorithm developed in the framework of the DualDur project also fits into this trend. It aims to significantly reduce the time spent under a microscope with a sample of one patient, make the examination continuous 24 hours a day if necessary, and reduce the cost of the analysis by reducing the time of skilled human resources needed.
The sample taken on DualDur medium is prepared by a special procedure. The automated microscope scans the slide along a predefined path and uses original special software to search for spirochetes characteristic of Lyme disease in the current field of view. The microscope works by combining the technical elements and their software currently available on the market. However, the microscope and the software do not in themselves constitute a diagnostic value; its result after human validation serves the specialist to determine the infection.
