1. A method for detection of candidate microaneurysms in a digital ocular fundus image, the method comprising: subdividing the image into a plurality of subregions; image enhancing each subregion to correct for background variations within the subregion, wherein each subregion is assigned a threshold value equal to a lesser of a locally adapted threshold value based on properties of the subregion and a pre-defined maximum threshold value, and the candidate microaneurysms are identified in the subregions; and segmenting the candidate microaneurysms from a background image and from other structures in each subregion using shape features of microaneurysms and directional morphological operations.