Studies on Acute Human Infections Using FTIR Microspectroscopy and Cluster Analysis Jacov Mordehai 1 Jagannathan Ramesh 2, * Mahmoud Huleihel 3 Zahavi Cohen 1 Oleg Kleiner 1 Marina Talyshinsky 3 Vitaly Erukhimovitch 3 Aviv Cahana 2 Ahmad Salman 2 Ranjit Kumar Sahu 2 Hugo Guterman 4 Shaul Mordechai 2 1 Department of Pediatric Surgery, Soroka University Medical Center, Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva 84101, Israel 2 Department of Physics, Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel 3 The Institute for Applied Biosciences, Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel 4 Department of Electric and Computer Engineering, Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel Received 14 April 2003; revised 7 August 2003; accepted 8 August 2003; Abstract: A novel methodology for the diagnosis of acute infections using FTIR microspectroscopy (FTIR-MSP) data on blood components and cluster analysis is presented. Blood samples were collected from 11 patients suffering from various infections and 16 age-matched healthy human controls. Blood components such as white blood cells, red blood cells, and plasma were isolated Correspondence to: S. Mordechai (shaulm@bgumail.bgu.ac.il). *Present address: Advanced Biomedical Science and Technol- ogy Group, Life Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Labora- tory, Knoxville, TN 37831-6101. Contract grant sponsor: Israel Science Foundation; contract grant number: ISF 788/01. Contract grant sponsor: Faculty of Health, Ben Gurion Univer- sity of the Negev (to J.M.). Biopolymers, Vol. 73, 494 –502 (2004) © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 494