Isolation Of Bacteria At FUS

Annie B's Throat Sample #1

Every student in our Medical Microbiology Course #217 collected a bacteria sample from the first floor of Cosmos & Damian at Franciscan University of Steubenville. Using cotton swabs, each student first dipped the swab in chicken broth and then swabbed an area where they thought interesting bacteria would accumulate. Some students chose bathroom door handles, some chose cell phones, others chose I.D. cards and one student even selected a mysterious boy's bike seat. I chose to do my sample on my own throat bacteria. Since I was placing the swab inside of my mouth, which is already moist with saliva and therefore the bacteria would adhere to the swab without a problem, I did not dip the swab into the chicken broth beforehand. Dr. Pathakamuri helped me swab the inside of my throat and than I rubbed the swab thoroughly into an agar plate and closed the lib. I then labeled the sample with my name, what the sample contained and the date of the sample. The sample was than stored at 25 degree Celsius.

The Test Tubes of Chicken Broth

This lab is interesting because I do not often think of the places where bacterium resides. The study of microbiology is based on the Greek words 'micros' meaning 'small' & 'bios' meaning 'life'. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microbiology). This is fitting because the small life is everywhere in our daily lives yet because it is so tiny we do not fully appreciate the mystery of the microworld. This lab is also teaching me how to properly take a swab sample and to place it in a peteri dish and keep it as uncontaminated as possible. This procedure is important as nurses to take samples to test in the labs to test for bacteria that cause diseases such as to test for strep throat (caused by a baterium called streptococcus). This procedure is also necessary in order to begin to take a pure culture of bacteria and determine which bacterium actually causes which diseases and where in our daily world they are found!

Annie B Placing Bacteria From Swab Into A Peteri Dish

This lab was very enjoible and at the end we even took check swabs and looked at our check cells through a microscope!

Swabbing of The Throat



Cool Microbiology Websites I Found While Researching The Root Of The Word 'Microbiology':

Microbe World

The Microbe Zoo

Molecular Muse

and my personal favorite:

Microbe Kombat

Until My Next Bacteria Sighting,

Annie B

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