Week 4 Discussion: Controlling Microbial Growth

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Required Resources

Read/review the following resources for this activity:

• Textbook: Chapters 12, 13
• Weekly Concepts

Initial Prompt Instructions

You will be the expert: Imagine you are teaching a class on controlling microbial growth in the environment. To test your students, you will present them with a scenario including a site and some probably microbes present. They must design a strategy to eliminate harmful microbes from the area.

In this discussion, each student should present a scenario for analysis by his or her classmates, and propose an answer to another classmate’s scenario. Be as creative as you can!

Make sure to post at least two high quality posts. Your instructor will open new topics of discussion throughout the week.

Follow-Up Post Instructions

Respond to at least one peer or the instructor. Further the dialogue by providing more information and clarification.

Writing Requirements

• Minimum of 2 posts (1 initial & 1 follow-up)
• Minimum of 2 sources cited (assigned readings/online lessons and an outside source)
• APA format for in-text citations and list of references

answer1:

Hello Class,

Scenario of a contaminated site may be any place that is untidy and humid. For example, the water collected in the soil or in cooler or at any place for longer time may act as a perfect home for numerous microbes like bacteria, fungi, protozoa and algae. The water collected from such a place can be tested in lab for the presence of microbes. Any stale food item can be a home of microbes. Mud collected from the moist ground can also have microbes in addition to mud particles. Harmful microbes can be disease causing microbes.

Now these harmful microbes can be eliminated by various methods: The place can be dried off by giving sunlight, Food items can be prevented from contamination by boiling or cooling. For example the milk, food items and vegetables can be kept fresh by boiling or by keeping in freeze. According to Singh (2017), pasteurization is also a technique of heating foods and then suddenly cooling them to eradicate microbes from them. Many food items we preserve at home in form of pickles and sauce by dipping them in oil or by dipping them in excessive salt or sugar. Excessive salt or sugar removes extra water present in them, that may spoil them in long run.

Antibiotic medicines that we ingest when we get infection, eradicate microbes from the body.

Answer 2:

Hello Class and Professor,

A good scenario for this assignment is a hospital room, particularly the curtains and bed sheets. These contaminated surfaces serve as a “vehicle for cross-contamination and transmission of multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROS) such as Clostridium, vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and more” (Pyrek, 2018, p.1). Studies have shown that “microorganisms shed by patients can contaminate hospital surfaces at concentrations sufficient for transmission, and that these pathogens survive and persist for extended periods despite attempts to disinfect or remove them and can be transferred to the hands of healthcare personnel” (Pyrek, 2018, p.1). Although the CDC around the world has certain guidelines for contaminated surfaces, optimal water temperature, drying time and a certain process flow, this can be difficult to achieve in healthcare facilities and homes. Surveys going around different healthcare facilities asked how often they change the curtains. Some locations said only when visibly soiled, some every month, some only when a patient is being discharged, and some locations every three months. There was another study done at a burn unit at a Canadian hospital. The study “tracked the contamination rate of 10 freshly laundered privacy curtains” (Pyrek, 2018, p.2). The curtains had minimal contamination when they were first hung and after hanging there for awhile in patient’s rooms, they became increasingly contaminated over time” (Pyrek, 2018). By  “day 14, 87.5 percent of the curtains tested positive for MRSA” (Pyrek, 2018, p.2). Cross contamination to and from the curtains are increased with patients that have open wounds on their body. Laundry processors have often relied on recommendations from the CDC which are “The antimicrobial action of the laundering process results from a combination of mechanical, thermal, and chemical factors. Dilution and agitation in water remove substantial qualities of microorganisms. Detergents and surfactants function to suspend soils, reduce water surface tension, and also exhibit some microbicidal properties” (Pyrek, 2018, p.3). Hospitals may be one of the safest places to be, but definitely not the cleanest!