Patent ID: 8841118

Claim:
An automated system for rapid detection of a microbial agent in a sample and identifying the microbial agent, comprising, in combination: a detection instrument receiving a specimen container containing a sample, the detection instrument including a heated enclosure for incubating the specimen container and a detection unit interrogating the specimen container to detect whether the specimen container is positive for the presence of a microbial agent in the sample; a supply of disposable separation devices; and an identification/characterization instrument receiving a specimen container detected positive by the detection instrument, the characterization/identification instrument comprising: (a) a sample removal apparatus operative to remove a portion of the sample from the specimen container and add the portion to a separation device obtained from the supply of separation devices; (b) a separation and concentration station operative on the separation device after receiving the portion of the sample so as to separate the microbial agent from other products in the sample and concentrate the microbial agent within the separation device, wherein the microbial agent is concentrated into a pellet; and (c) a module configured to interrogate the concentrated microbial agent pellet using intrinsic fluorescence, the module further comprising a computer programmed to identify the microbial agent to the family, genus, species, and/or stain level form intrinsic fluorescence data obtained from the interrogation of the concentrated pellet; wherein the detection instrument and the identification/characterization instrument are integrated into a single system and operate in a substantially fully automated manner to detect a specimen container for being positive for microbial growth and then identify the microbial agent.