Solar Powered Portable Culture Incubator - Abstract
Background: The current rate of infant mortality in India is 40/1000, two thirds of which is due to neonatal mortality [1]. Neonatal sepsis accounts for more than 50% of the neonatal mortality in India. Ideally the prompt culture of specimens – i.e. body fluids e.g. blood, urine, cerebro-spinal fluid, etc. – would help isolate and identify microorganisms causing infection and sepsis. The results of the lab tests will help clinicians to institute timely and appropriate antibiotics to the patient. This will culminate in an overall decrease in morbidity and mortality related to sepsis/infections.
In resource-limited countries, in rural communities, there is a distinct lack of (functional) culture facilities; therefore, these specimens would require to be transported to the nearest well-equipped culture laboratory for processing, interpretation of the causative organism, and its sensitivity to antimicrobials. As the optimum temperature for bacteria culture such as the frequently used E. coli as well as mammalian cells is approximately 37° C, this is the temperature that needs to be maintained for specimens in transit from the community to the laboratory. Our main aim was to fabricate a portable culture incubator which could run on solar energy. In this paper, we highlight the benefits of the Solar Powered Portable Culture Incubator which enables the successful culture of human fluids despite unavailability of proximate laboratory facilities.
Methods: As the culture of specimens requires maintenance of the appropriate temperature in the right culture media, the Solar Powered Portable Culture Incubator is fabricated to commence the culture process of the specimen soon after collection and maintain appropriate environmental conditions whilst in transit from remote locations to a well-equipped laboratory facility. The Solar Powered Portable Culture Incubator is made of wood and can maintain a temperature of 35 ± 2º C using a battery on a dual system i.e. a battery which is charged through a solar module during daytime, and switches to normal electric power when the solar energy available is inadequate to charge the battery. During transportation the temperature within the incubator is maintained with a solar module installed on the rooftop of the vehicle.
Findings: An experiment was conducted by drawing a sample of pus from an inpatient’s infected wound at a district hospital. Blood agar plates were streaked with bacteria from the sample and incubated at 37º C using the Solar Powered Portable Culture Incubator. It was found that bacteria were successfully cultured, i.e. the required quantity of bacteria grew in the incubator environment. Therefore, it was proven that the Solar Powered Portable Culture Incubator is capable of effectively transporting human fluid for culture from remote locations to better-equipped laboratory facilities.
Interpretation: The Solar Powered Portable Culture Incubator will help in establishing mobile culture facilities at the district level or the sub-district level; therefore, there is a tremendous scope for this product in our health system in rural as well as urban settings.