Biological shape characterization for automatic image recognition and diagnosis of protozoan parasites of the genus Eimeria

  • Authors:
  • César A. B. Castañón;Jane S. Fraga;Sandra Fernandez;Arthur Gruber;Luciano da F. Costa

  • Affiliations:
  • Instituto de Cie^ncias Biomédicas, Departmento de Parasitologia, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Prof. Lineu Prestes 1374, São Paulo SP, 05508-000, Brazil and Instituto de Físic ...;Instituto de Cie^ncias Biomédicas, Departmento de Parasitologia, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Prof. Lineu Prestes 1374, São Paulo SP, 05508-000, Brazil;Instituto de Cie^ncias Biomédicas, Departmento de Parasitologia, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Prof. Lineu Prestes 1374, São Paulo SP, 05508-000, Brazil;Instituto de Cie^ncias Biomédicas, Departmento de Parasitologia, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Prof. Lineu Prestes 1374, São Paulo SP, 05508-000, Brazil;Instituto de Física de São Carlos, Universidade de São Paulo, Caixa Postal 369, São Carlos SP, 13560-970, Brazil

  • Venue:
  • Pattern Recognition
  • Year:
  • 2007

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Abstract

We describe an approach of automatic feature extraction for shape characterization of seven distinct species of Eimeria, a protozoan parasite of domestic fowl. We used digital images of oocysts, a round-shaped stage presenting inter-specific variability. Three groups of features were used: curvature characterization, size and symmetry, and internal structure quantification. Species discrimination was performed with a Bayesian classifier using Gaussian distribution. A database comprising 3891 micrographs was constructed and samples of each species were employed for the training process. The classifier presented an overall correct classification of 85.75%. Finally, we implemented a real-time diagnostic tool through a web interface, providing a remote diagnosis front-end.