Featuring of bacterial contamination of wounds by dynamic response of SnO2 gas sensor array

The samples of the infectious agents are collected by swabbing the wound (typically bums) site. Standard microbiological routine is performed for growing of the culture that is tested by the array of metal oxide based sensors. Dynamic response of the sensor array to the volatile products of the bacteria is analysed and the correlation between the set of the kinetic parameters of the response and the features of the culture are studied. Influence of the external factors, namely temperature and humidity of the surrounding medium, on the recognition of the bacteria is described. it is demonstrated a possibility to evaluate the degree of the bacterial contamination by the dynamic response parameters. Dependence of the recognition accuracy on the methodological aspects is discussed. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.