Laser speckle imaging for visualization of hidden effects for early detection of antibacterial susceptibility in disc diffusion tests

Ilya Balmages; Aigars Reinis; Svjatoslavs Kistkins; Dmitrijs Bliznuks; Emilija Vija Plorina; Alexey Lihachev; Ilze Lihacova

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2023.1221134

Laser speckle imaging for visualization of hidden effects for early detection of antibacterial susceptibility in disc diffusion tests

Front Microbiol. 2023 Jun 29:14:1221134. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1221134. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Ilya Balmages^{1

2}, Aigars Reinis^{3

4}, Svjatoslavs Kistkins^{1

3}, Dmitrijs Bliznuks², Emilija Vija Plorina¹, Alexey Lihachev¹, Ilze Lihacova¹

Affiliations

¹ Biophotonics Laboratory, Institute of Atomic Physics and Spectroscopy, University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia.
² Institute of Computer Control, Automation and Computer Engineering, Riga Technical University, Riga, Latvia.
³ Pauls Stradins Clinical University Hospital, Riga, Latvia.
⁴ Department of Biology and Microbiology, Riga Stradins University, Riga, Latvia.

Abstract

Rapid identification of effective antibiotic treatment is crucial for increasing patient survival and preventing the formation of new antibiotic-resistant bacteria due to preventative antibiotic use. Currently utilized "gold standard" methods require 16-24 h to determine the most appropriate antibiotic for the patient's treatment. The proposed technique of laser speckle imaging with subpixel correlation analysis allows for identifying dynamics and changes in the zone of inhibition, which are impossible to observe with classical methods. Furthermore, it obtains the resulting zone of inhibition diameter earlier than the disk diffusion method which is recommended by the European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST). These results could improve mathematical models of changes in the diameter of the zone of inhibition around the disc containing the antimicrobial agent, thereby speeding up and facilitating epidemiological analysis.

Keywords: antibacterial resistance estimation; disc diffusion method; image processing; laser speckle imaging; phenotypic antibacterial resistance; sub-pixel correlation analysis.