Salmonella; a form of bacteria that we’ve all heard of. We’ve
all heard how dangerous and even deadly it can be,…but is there any true way to
rid ourselves of it? According to researchers from the National University of
Ireland, once salmonella bacteria gets into the foods we eat, it has the chance
to form a biofilm on surfaces throughout the food facilities. This biofilm is
extraordinarily difficult, if not impossible to kill. Using three different
forms of disinfectants, none of them were capable of killing off the bacteria
after it had been allowed a short seven days to grow. Even soaking the biofilms
in disinfectant for over an hour failed to kill them. Why have this study now?
There was a European outbreak in which 160 people from 10 different countries
became sick with gastroenteritis (vomiting and diarrhea) from a form of
Salmonella. The outbreak was traced back to meat from a food facility. What
sparked their interest was the fact that the Salmonella seemed to be coming
from a part of the factory where the meat was no longer raw, but had already
been cooked all the way through. They wanted to know what made this strand of
Salmonella strong enough to make it through the high temperature environments.
They found that they were able to survive through creating dense layer of
biofilm on the surfaces throughout the facility.
I found this article to be interesting because there are
over a million cases of Salmonella per year, with 23,000 hospitalizations and a
minimum of 450 fatalities. That is a huge amount of such a tiny microbe. If
researchers could find a better way of fighting such a dangerous bacteria, our
food would not only be healthier, but there would be less deaths from it. I do
think that the article should’ve touched a bit more on how Salmonella actually
develops in a place such as a food industry. It would be beneficial to know how
it actually got there in the first place. Other than that, it really makes you
think about where and what you may be unknowingly eating. Yuck!
Article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140115172952.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28Latest+Science+News+--+ScienceDaily%29
Image: http://www.foodpoisonjournal.com/foodborne-illness-outbreaks/an-unforgettable-salmonella-illness/
It's interesting that salmonella has the ability to do this on not only the food that we consume but also in the plants that they are produced. It's a bit scary to think about that being actually being probable. It's also unsettling to know that even through treatment of the biofilm that it just won't break down to the point of coming off the walls and machinery in the plants. However, have they tried beating them with microbes? I'm sure there is a microbe out there in existence that can fight off this film and help make the food we eat safer to consume. It may take some research and time, but hopefully we can find a way to beat the biofilm off.
ReplyDeleteMicrobes and food go together like white on rice. It’s amazing to me how these tiny microorganisms are essential for life on this planet but could also kill us in such a short time. It’s like the good and bad sour patch commercial. “First they are sour then they are sweet.” We talked about biofilms quite a bit in class and this article just proves that fact, which biofilms are very hard to kill. It’s interesting how this microorganism was able to create dense layers of biofilm on the surfaces to prevent it from dying in high temperature environments. This microbe kind of reminds me of the microbe, Deinococcus radiodurans, which is very resistant to high amounts of radiation. I don’t believe it creates biofilms to help its resistance to radiation but it can survive under high amounts of radiation. I didn’t know that Salmonella hospitalizes and kills so many people. A question that comes to mind is, is there a cure for this bacteria? Like you said in your blog, it would have been beneficial to know how this bacterium actually got to this food facility? Sometimes we can’t live with microbes, but we also can’t live without them.
ReplyDelete-Angelo V.
The article you chose really shows the power of biofilms! Sami, you raised a great idea of seeing how another microbe might be used against this biofilm.
ReplyDelete