ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews possibilities of computer-assisted identification of bacteria in diagnostic and public health laboratories. It provides a brief discussion of approaches and methods used in computer technology with a view toward their applications in diagnostic bacteriology and epidemiology and public health programs. The clusters in the Goodman test correspond to presently recognized genera. Relationships between strains within a cluster and between clusters were displayed by computer analysis, which tends to confirm the grouping of W. H. Ewing and P. R. Edward. Generally, classification is concerned with the arrangement of elements into groups on the basis of common characteristics. Identification collates an element's characteristics one-to-one with characteristics of elements in established classifications. The application of computer technology in epidemiology and public health is valuable for the purpose of infection control, detection of trends suggesting preventable cross infection and determination of antibiotic susceptibility patterns.
