AEM
Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Green, L. H.
Right arrow Articles by Green, G. M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Green, L. H.
Right arrow Articles by Green, G. M.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Green, L. H.
Right arrow Articles by Green, G. M.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Appl Environ Microbiol. 1968 January; 16(1): 78-81
Copyright © 1968 American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Direct Method for Determining the Viability of a Freshly Generated Mixed Bacterial Aerosol

Louis H. Green1 and Gareth M. Green2

Channing Laboratory, and Second and Fourth (Harvard) Medical Services, Boston City Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02118
Department of Periodontology, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts 02118
Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02118

ABSTRACT

A direct method was developed to determine the viability of a freshly generated mixed bacterial aerosol. A mixed suspension of 32P-labeled Staphylococcus aureus and 35S-labeled Proteus mirabilis was nebulized, and the aerosol was collected and separated according to particle size with an Andersen sampler. Quantitative and qualitative bacteriological and radioisotopic techniques were used to obtain ratios of bacterial to radioactive counts for each organism in samples of the nebulizer suspension and aerosol. Loss of viability was calculated from the change that occurred between the ratio of the nebulizer suspension and the ratio of the aerosol. The viability of S. aureus was unaffected by aerosolization, whereas the viability of P. mirabilis declined by 20 to 60% and was inversely proportional to particle size. The advantages of this method over present indirect methods, as well as potential applications of the method, are discussed.

FOOTNOTES

1 Research Fellow in Periodontology.

2 Edward Livingston Trudeau Fellow of the American Thoracic Society.

Appl Environ Microbiol. 1968 January; 16(1): 78-81
Copyright © 1968 American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
J. Bacteriol. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. Eukaryot. Cell All ASM Journals

Copyright © 1968 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.