Device and method for microbiological analysis of biological samples

Abstract

A device for microbiological analyses on samples of body fluids including: an incubation area for containers containing the samples; an analyzer for analyzing the inner atmosphere of the containers; a sorting system to sort the containers according to the carbon dioxide content detected by the analyzer.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A device for microbiological analyses on samples of body fluids, the device comprising:
 an incubation area for containers containing said samples;   an analyzer for analyzing the inner atmosphere of said containers;   a sorting system for sorting the containers according to the carbon dioxide content detected by said analyzer, wherein said sorting system sorts the containers coming from said incubation area, to subdivide said containers in:   positive containers destined to an analysis for the identification of the microorganisms present in the respective samples;   negative containers, on which it is not necessary to perform analyses for the identification of microorganisms;   uncertain containers, which are subjected to a second incubation.   
     
     
         2 . A device as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein said analyzer comprises an NDIR carbon dioxide sensor. 
     
     
         3 . A device as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein said analyzer comprises an aspirating duct ending with a pervious needle in order to aspirate gas inside said containers, said pervious needle and said containers being provided with a relative penetration movement in order to perforate said containers by means of said needle. 
     
     
         4 . A device as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein said analyzer comprises two carbon dioxide sensors and two aspirating ducts ending with respective pervious needles to aspirate gas from the inside of two containers simultaneously, said pervious needles and said containers being provided with a relative penetration movement of the needles in said containers. 
     
     
         5 . A device as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein at least said incubation area is maintained at a controlled temperature and agitating members are provided in said incubation area to agitate the samples in said containers. 
     
     
         6 . A device as claimed in  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a loading area for loading the samples to be analyzed;   a conveyor in said loading area, to convey said containers along the loading area; and   a transferring unit to transfer containers from the loading area to the incubation area.   
     
     
         7 . A device as claimed in  claim 6 , wherein said conveyor in the loading area receives and conveys racks of containers. 
     
     
         8 . A device as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein below the level at which the incubation area is arranged, a collection area is arranged for collecting containers of positive samples. 
     
     
         9 . A device as claimed in  claim 1 , further comprising at least one cannula to inject a gas or a gaseous mixture containing oxygen in said containers. 
     
     
         10 . A device as claimed in  claim 2 , wherein said analyzer comprises an aspirating duct ending with a pervious needle in order to aspirate gas inside said containers, said pervious needle and said containers being provided with a relative penetration movement in order to perforate said containers by means of said needle. 
     
     
         11 . A device as claimed in  claim 2 , further comprising at least one cannula to inject a gas or a gaseous mixture containing oxygen in said containers. 
     
     
         12 . A device as claimed in  claim 3 , further comprising at least one cannula to inject a gas or a gaseous mixture containing oxygen in said containers. 
     
     
         13 . A device as claimed in  claim 10 , further comprising at least one cannula to inject a gas or a gaseous mixture containing oxygen in said containers. 
     
     
         14 . A device for microbiological analyses on samples of body fluids, the device comprising:
 a plurality of biological samples to be analyzed in a plurality of containers containing a growth medium;   an incubation area, wherein the containers are incubated in said incubation area for a first incubation time interval;   an analyzer device, wherein following said first incubation time interval, the analyzer device analyzes an atmosphere in said containers and said analyzer device compares the atmosphere in said containers with a predetermined maximum value and a predetermined minimum value of carbon dioxide concentration, said analyzer device classifying said containers whose samples have an atmosphere containing a carbon dioxide quantity lower than the predetermined minimum value as not containing a pathologically relevant bacterial load, said analyzer device classifying said containers whose samples have an atmosphere containing a carbon dioxide quantity greater than the predetermined maximum value as containing a pathologically relevant bacterial load;   a sorting system, said sorting system separating said containers containing said pathologically relevant bacterial load from said containers not containing said pathologically relevant bacterial load and said sorting system collecting said samples containing said pathologically relevant bacterial load in a collection area, wherein said samples containing said pathologically relevant bacterial load are taken from said collection area and subjected to a further analysis to determine which microorganisms are present in said samples containing said pathologically relevant bacterial load via said analyzer device, said analyzer device classifying said containers whose samples have an atmosphere containing a carbon dioxide quantity comprised between the predetermined maximum value and the predetermined minimum value as containing an uncertain sample, said sorting system separating said containers containing said uncertain samples from said containers containing said pathologically relevant bacterial load and from said containers not containing said pathologically relevant bacterial load via said sorter, wherein said containers containing said uncertain samples are subjected to a second incubation time interval in said incubation area after said containers containing said uncertain samples are injected with oxygen via said analyzer device, said analyzer device analyzing the atmosphere in said containers containing said uncertain samples at the end of said second incubation time interval and classifying said containers containing said uncertain samples as containing a pathologically relevant bacterial load or not containing a pathologically relevant bacterial load depending upon whether the carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere of the container is greater or lower than a threshold value, respectively, wherein said analyzer device further analyzes said samples of said containers containing said pathologically relevant bacterial load to determine which microorganisms are present in the samples.   
     
     
         15 . A device as claimed in  claim 14 , wherein said analyzer device comprises an NDIR carbon dioxide sensor. 
     
     
         16 . A device as claimed in  claim 14 , wherein said analyzer device comprises an aspirating duct ending with a pervious needle in order to aspirate gas inside said containers, said pervious needle and said containers being provided with a relative penetration movement in order to perforate said containers by means of said needle. 
     
     
         17 . A device as claimed in  claim 14 , wherein said analyzer device comprises two carbon dioxide sensors and two aspirating ducts ending with respective pervious needles to aspirate gas from the inside of two containers simultaneously, said pervious needles and said containers being provided with a relative penetration movement of the needles in said containers. 
     
     
         18 . A device for microbiological analyses on samples of body fluids, the device comprising:
 a sorter;   an incubation area;   a plurality of containers, each container of said containers comprising a biological sample and a growth medium, said plurality of containers being incubated for an incubation time interval in said incubation area;   an analyzer device, said analyzer device measuring a carbon dioxide content in each of said plurality of containers after incubating said plurality of container for said first incubation time interval, said analyzer device determining a bacterial load of said plurality of containers after measuring said carbon dioxide content by comparing said carbon dioxide content of each of said plurality of containers with a predetermined maximum value of carbon dioxide concentration and a predetermined minimum value of carbon dioxide concentration, said sorter sorting said plurality of containers based on said bacterial load such that each of said containers having said carbon dioxide content less than said predetermined minimum value is removed from said incubation area via said sorter and not subjected to further analysis and each of said containers having said carbon dioxide content greater than said predetermined maximum value is removed from said incubation area via said sorter, whereby said containers having said carbon dioxide content less than said predetermined minimum value are separated from said containers having said carbon dioxide content greater than said predetermined maximum value via said sorter, wherein containers having a carbon dioxide content between said predetermined maximum value and said predetermined minimum value are provided in said incubation area via said sorter, said containers having said carbon dioxide content greater than said predetermined maximum value being subjected to further analysis via said analyzer device to determine which microorganisms are present in each of said containers having said carbon dioxide content greater than said predetermined maximum value.   
     
     
         19 . A device as claimed in  claim 18 , wherein said analyzer device comprises an aspirating duct ending with a pervious needle in order to aspirate gas inside said containers, said pervious needle and said containers being provided with a relative penetration movement in order to perforate said containers by means of said needle. 
     
     
         20 . A device as claimed in  claim 18 , wherein said analyzer device comprises two carbon dioxide sensors and two aspirating ducts ending with respective pervious needles to aspirate gas from the inside of two containers simultaneously, said pervious needles and said containers being provided with a relative penetration movement of the needles in said containers.