Isolation methods from water and hospital surfaces - (Sep/09/2007 )
Greetings people,
I'm isolating bacteria from the water and I was wondering which of the two techniques, streak and spread, could be used? Whilst I know that spread plate method is used in the enumeration of bacteria, could it be used to isolate bacteria or is the streak plate better?
Another thing is that I plan to isolate antibiotic-resistant bacteria from the hospital environment and I have to improvised on some ways to get the bacteria. I plan to use microcentrifuge tubes and cotton buds when swabbing on hard surfaces. Problem is, once I swab a surface, do I leave it cotton bud in the tubes DRY or do I have to place it in liquid environment? Just afraid it'll dry out and kill my bacteria.
Thanks in advance. Have a nice day. 
-jchchye-
QUOTE (jchchye @ Sep 10 2007, 11:36 AM)
Greetings people,
I'm isolating bacteria from the water and I was wondering which of the two techniques, streak and spread, could be used? Whilst I know that spread plate method is used in the enumeration of bacteria, could it be used to isolate bacteria or is the streak plate better?
Another thing is that I plan to isolate antibiotic-resistant bacteria from the hospital environment and I have to improvised on some ways to get the bacteria. I plan to use microcentrifuge tubes and cotton buds when swabbing on hard surfaces. Problem is, once I swab a surface, do I leave it cotton bud in the tubes DRY or do I have to place it in liquid environment? Just afraid it'll dry out and kill my bacteria.
Thanks in advance. Have a nice day.
I'm isolating bacteria from the water and I was wondering which of the two techniques, streak and spread, could be used? Whilst I know that spread plate method is used in the enumeration of bacteria, could it be used to isolate bacteria or is the streak plate better?
Another thing is that I plan to isolate antibiotic-resistant bacteria from the hospital environment and I have to improvised on some ways to get the bacteria. I plan to use microcentrifuge tubes and cotton buds when swabbing on hard surfaces. Problem is, once I swab a surface, do I leave it cotton bud in the tubes DRY or do I have to place it in liquid environment? Just afraid it'll dry out and kill my bacteria.
Thanks in advance. Have a nice day.
You could try swabbing and spreading immediately onto nutrient plates. Just make sure you reduce the risk of airborne bacteria getting in the way (you could /should also use a control plate that you open but don't spread onto).
If you plan to swab and store in a tube, break off the tip of the swab and close the lid. That should retain enough moisture to allow the bugs to remain viable until you get the tubes back to the lab.
-swanny-