Whole slide images technology: preliminary experience in clinical microbiology

Today the “whole slide images” (virtual slides) is an important tool also in clinical microbiology. Virtual microscopy consists of digitizing a glass slide acquiring hundred of tiles of areas of interest at different resolution levels, and assembling them in a structured file. We shortly report the key elements of this technology from the acquisition of the image using a scanner, to the broadcasting of virtual slides to a distant viewer over an internet connection