Question

Microbiology question:

The hospital stuff have discovered the problem. Some of the catheters they use cause infection. The hospitals uses catheters from multiple manufactures. They need to

(1) identify the manufacturer that is producing the defective catheters and

(2) find the extent of the contamination in each catheter. They also lack funding and need to use as few material as possible to do this.

Please provide answer based on the microbiology lab techniques

Answer 1

Initially, the microorganisms have to be isolated by taking sample from the catheter and making serial dilutions and then plating it on differential media. Colonies growing on plate can then be isolated and re-grown in pure culture and a cell count can be done (or a cell counter can be used if it's available).