ABSTRACT
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) could potentially be used to transport microbiological specimens. To examine the impact of UAVs on microbiological specimens, blood and sputum culture specimens were seeded with usual pathogens and flown in a UAV for 30 ± 2 min. Times to recovery, colony counts, morphologies, and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization–time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS)-based identifications of the flown and stationary specimens were similar for all microbes studied.
FOOTNOTES
- Received 2 June 2016.
- Returned for modification 1 July 2016.
- Accepted 8 August 2016.
- Accepted manuscript posted online 17 August 2016.
Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/JCM.01204-16.
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