Laboratory's Information :
Laboratory's Number - LAB A203
Laboratory Title : SOURCES OF CONTAMINATION AND INFECTION
Lecturer's Name : Associate Professor Dr. Liong Min Tze
Laboratory Assistant : Madam Najmah
Group Members : Charles Ng Wai Chun, Siti Hawa Binti Ramli, Nuramirah Binti Ramlan
Date of Laboratory : 20 October 2015
LAB 4 : SOURCES OF CONTAMINATION AND INFECTION
Introduction
Airborne particles are very fine particles made up of either solid or liquid matter that can stay suspended in the air and spread with the wind. Common examples of such particles are: fog, which is made up of tiny water droplets; dust, which is made up of very fine particles of solid matter; and smoke, which is made up of both solid matter and liquid. Airborne particle size varies greatly, and they are often measured in microns, meaning it is so small that it cannot be seen with the naked eye. Sources of airborne particles can be natural, such as the dust and smoke created by volcanic eruptions and forest fires, or man-made, such as the soot from the burning of coal in a power plant or the residual oil particles in vehicle exhaust fumes. Scientific studies show that these particle pollution can cause health problems in humans and affect the Earth's climate.
Airborne particle counters can be used to measure the particle content of indoor and outdoor air. Such instruments commonly detect particles with a diameter of 0.2-25 microns. Scientists believe that airborne particles with a diameter less than 2.5 microns can be especially harmful to humans. The small size of the particles means they can penetrate deep into lung tissue or even the blood stream, causing serious lung and heart disease.
Populations of microbes (such as bacteria and yeasts) inhabit the skin and mucosal surfaces in various parts of the body. Their role forms part of normal, healthy human physiology, however if microbe numbers grow beyond their typical ranges (often due to a compromised immune system) or if microbes populate (such as through poor hygiene or injury) areas of the body normally not colonized or sterile (such as the blood, or the lower respiratory tract, or the abdominal cavity), disease can result (causing, respectively, bacteremia/sepsis, pneumonia, and peritonitis).
Objective
To determine the microorganisms in the air and from healthy humans.
Materials and Reagents
1) Molten nutrient agar
2) Sterile water
3) Sterile petri dishes
4) Sterile clinical swab
5) Pipette and tips
Procedure
(refer to the laboratory manual)
Results
1) Bacteria colonies from air (Commercial Nutrient Agar & Self - made agar) :
2) Bacteria colonies from hands (Commercial Nutrient Agar & Self - made agar) :
3) Bacteria colonies from Ear (Commercial Nutrient Agar & Self - made agar) :
4) Bacteria colonies from normal breathing (Commercial Nutrient Agar & Self - made agar) :
5) Bacteria colonies from violent coughing (Commercial Nutrient Agar & Self - made agar) :
Discussion
Bacteria is everywhere in our life and its populations can grow at a extremely high rate under the desired nutrients and environmental conditions. There are so many types of bacteria in the environment and different types of bacteria will produce colonies that are distinctive in appearance. Colony morphology is a method that scientists use to describe the characteristics of an individual colony of bacteria growing on agar in a Petri dish. It is used by the scientists to indentify them. Each distinct colony represents an individual bacterial cell or group that has divided repeatedly.
A specific terminology is used to describe common colony types of bacteria which are :
- Elevation – This describes the side view of a bacteria colony.
- Size – The describes the diameter of a bacteria colony. Tiny colonies are referred to as punctiform.
- Form – The basic shape of the colony. For example, circular, filamentous, irregular and rhizoid
- Texture – The bacteria colony is dry, moist, mucoid, brittle or viscous.
- Surface – The surface of the bacteria colony appear. For example smooth, shiny, rough, wrinkled, dull or glistening.
- Colour – Colony pigmentation of the bacteria colony. For instance, white, buff, red, purple, orange, yellow.
- Opacity – For example, transparent, opaque, translucent, cloudy or iridescent.
- Margin – The edge of a bacteria colony such as entire, undulate, lobate, curled or filiform.
 |
| Colony morphology of bacteria. |
1) Morphology of Bacteria Colonies of Air
Commercial Nutrient Agar Self - made Nutrient Agar
Elevation: Flat Flat, Pulvinate, Umbonate, Crateriform
Form : Circular, Irregular, Filamentous Circular, Irregular,
Surface : Shiny and Smooth, Wrinkled Shiny and Smooth, Dull and Wrinkled
Texture : Dry Dry
Colour : Buff Buff
Opacity : Opaque Opaque, Cloudy
Margin : Entire, Entire, Undulate
2) Morphology of Bacteria Colonies of Hand
Commercial Nutrient Agar Self - made Nutrient Agar
Elevation: Raised Raised, Flat, Umbonate
Form : Circular, Irregular Circular, Irregular
Surface : Shiny and Smooth, Wrinkled Shiny and Smooth, Dull and Rough
Texture : Dry Dry
Colour : White, Buff Buff
Opacity : Opaque, Cloudy Opaque
Margin : Entire, Lobate Entire
3) Morphology of Bacteria Colonies of Ear
Commercial Nutrient Agar Self - made Nutrient Agar
Elevation: Raised Raised
Form : Circular, Irregular Circular, Irregular
Surface : Shiny and Smooth Shiny and Smooth
Texture : Dry Dry
Colour : White, Buff, Yellow White, Buff, Yellow
Opacity : Opaque, Cloudy Opaque
Margin : Entire, Undulate Entire, Undulate
4) Morphology Bacteria Colonies of Normal Breathing
Commercial Nutrient Agar Self - made Nutrient Agar
Elevation: Raised Raised
Form : Circular Circular
Surface : Shiny and Smooth Shiny and Smooth
Texture : Dry Dry
Colour : Buff, Yellow Buff, White
Opacity : Cloudy Opaque
Margin : Entire Entire
5) Morphology of Bacteria Colonies of Violent Coughing
Commercial Nutrient Agar Self - made Nutrient Agar
Elevation: Raised Raised
Form : Circular Circular, Irregular
Surface : Shiny and Smooth Shiny and Smooth
Texture : Dry Dry
Colour : Buff, Yellow Buff, White
Opacity : Opaque Opaque, Cloudy
Margin : Entire Entire, Lobate
Air :
Every part around us contains bacteria, air also contains microorganisms. In the air there are vegetative cells and spores of bacteria, fungi and algae, viruses and protozoan cysts. Air usually act as the transportation or dispersal medium for all kinds of microorganisms although they occur in relatively small numbers in air when compared with soil or water. The air found inside the building is referred to as Indoor air. The commonest genera of fungi in indoor air are Penicillium Aspergillus. The commonest genera of bacteria found in indoor air are Staphylococci, Bacillus and Clostridium.
Hands :
We use our hands to do many things in our daily life. And because of that, our hands are always loaded with different bacteria which some of them are good and some of them are bad. Bacteria may live harmlessly on your hands till passed on into your system through your eyes, nose and mouth, or through a wound or cut in the skin. The main pathogenic bacteria which are more likely to be found on the hands are Staphylococcus, Corynebacteria, Streptococcus, E coli, Myobacteria, and Haemophilus.
Ear :
Ears are the organs of human being which exposed to the environment.Despite the best efforts of the ceruminous gland to keep our eat clean and hygiene, the healthy outer ear still houses a variety of microbes. Some of the most common bacteria are Staphylococcus epidermis, Turicellaotitidis, Alloiococousotitis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Corynebacterium, Staphylococcus aureus, and Streptococcus saprophyticum. The most common fungal microbe known to reside in the ear is Candida albicans. Microbes that are known to inhabit the middle ear are Streptococci, Haemophilus pneumoniae, Moraxella catarrhalis, and Mycobacterium.
Normal Breathing :
Breathing is a must for most of the living animals. And as mentioned earlier, air contains a lot of microorganisms such as bacteria. And so, microscopic organisms can be found living inside our nasal passageways. Although most of these bacteria are non-pathogenic, some may induce illness if they successfully break through the bodies defense systems. Some examples of these non-pathogenic bacteria are Streptococcus, Neisseria, Haemophilus, and Micrococcus. Some of the pathogenic examples include Staphylococcus aureus, Corynebacterium diphtheriae,Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Haemophilus influenzae among others.
Violent Coughing :
A cough is a forceful release of air from the lungs that can be heard. Coughing is a way to protect the respiratory system by clearing the irritants and secretions such as mucus . When coughing air go through the mouth that contain numerous bacteria. Our mouth is a home to bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protozoa. The species of Staphylococcus most often found in the mouth include Staphylococcus epidermidis and Staphylococcus aureus. Streptococcus mutans, Streptococcus mitis, Streptococcus salivarius, Streptococcus pneumoniae and Streptococcus pyogenes all live in the mouth. Lactobacillus bacteria also present in mouth. While most of the rod-shaped E. coli in the body is located in the intestines, a small amount of the bacteria is present in the mouth.
Conclusion :
Microorganisms are extremely small it cannot be seen by the naked eyes. Although many of them are unicellular organisms but there are also numerous multicellular organisms.They are found everywhere in the world. They are found in all living things, plants and animals. They are found around us in our daily life. Microorganisms that live in and on our bodies outnumber our own cells 10 to one. There are more microorganisms on and inside your body than there are cells that make up your entire body. Microorganisms can live in almost everywhere. They can live in the air, on land and in fresh or salt water environments. Different microorganisms have different adaptations to the environment and so, they have different optimum conditions for them to grow and live. Some of them which is pathogen can be harmful to us and causes diseases but there are also some of the microorganisms which are needed by living things to survive.
Microorganisms play a crucial role in our life. They are vital to humans and the environment, as they participate in the Earth’s element cycles such as the carbon cycle and nitrogen cycle. Besides, they also fulfilling other vital roles in all ecosystem such as recycling other organisms’ dead remains and waste products through decomposition. Microorganisms also have an important role in most higher-order multicellular organisms as symbionts. Some forms of bacteria that live in animals’ stomachs aid in their digestion. For instance,cows have a variety of different microbes in their stomachs that aid them in their digestion of grass and hay. In the fields of industry, microorganisms are used in brewing, wine-making, baking, pickling and other food-making processes.They are also used to control the fermentation process in the production of cultured dairy products such as yogurt and cheese. The cultures are the main sources which provide the flavours and aromas, and of course, inhibit the undesirable organisms. Besides, microorganisms are also used in fermentation to produce ethanol and in biogas reactors to produce methane. Many microbes are used for commercial and industrial production of chemicals, enzymes and other bioactive molecules.
However, microorganisms are usually the cause of many infectious diseases which it affect our health tremendously. The pathogenic bacteria will causing diseases such as plague, tuberculosis. As example protozoa cause diseases such as malaria, sleeping sickness and toxoplasmosis while fungi causing diseases such as ringworm, candidiasis or histoplasmosis.
A colony is defined as a visible mass of microorganisms all
originating from a single mother cell. A colony constitutes a clone of bacteria
all genetically alike. Bacteria that grow on the nutrient agar will form colonies of bacteria. Features of the
colonies may help to pinpoint the identity of the bacterium. Different species
of bacteria can produce very different colonies and they have different characteristics as well. Therefore, to identify the
cultural characteristics of the bacterium on an agar plate, we always refer to the colony morphology. Microorganisms can be good or bad to us, so, it's important for us to find our more about them in order to make our life better.
Reference
2) Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (30 October 2015), Nutrient Agar. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutrient_agar
3) MicrobeWiki (20 August 2010), Human Hands and Fingernails. Retrieved from http://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Human_Hands_and_Fingernails
4) Safe Drinking Water Foundation. DISEASE CAUSING MICRO-ORGANISMS. Retrieved from http://www.safewater.org/PDFS/resourcesknowthefacts/Disease_Causing_Micro_Org.pdf
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