Biofilms

More and more news is appearing indicating increasing interest in biofilms and their role in disease and other biological phenomena. The following article is an example of news on biofilm.

Chlorine dioxide, with its unusual anti-biofilm properties, should inevitably play an increasing role in fighting and using biofilms.

How Fatal Biofilms Form

Date: October 5, 2018

Source: Yale University

Summary: By severely curtailing the effects of antibiotics, the formation of organized communities of bacterial cells known as biofilms can be deadly during surgeries and in urinary tract infections. Researchers have just come a lot closer to understanding how these biofilms develop, and potentially how to stop them.

Read more: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/10/181005111431.htm

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Ongoing Effort to Curtail the Impact of Bacterial Infection and Biofilms at Ethanol Plants

Ongoing Effort to Curtail the Impact of Bacterial Infection and Biofilms at Ethanol Plants

 

Biofilms have gained attention recently across the ethanol industry. They really have an impact on all industries, Wayne Mattsfield, staff scientist for Phibro Ethanol Performance Group, said during the panel.

The formation of biofilm is a very simple process and can occur rather quickly. As soon as anything gets on a surface that roughs it up or creates a deposit, biofilm and bacteria has an area to attach to. Biofilm can form in just one week on a system.

It’s very easy for biofilm, even a very small amount, to create plenty of problems. The glue on scotch tape is 20 microns thick, that amount of biofilm can reduce heat transfer in your heat exchanger by more than 5 percent.

Read more: http://www.ethanolproducer.com/articles/15387/biofilms-can-form-anywhere-but-can-be-scrubbed-out

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Legionnaires’ Disease linked to hot tub

The Florida Department of Health in Lake County is conducting an investigation of the two laboratory-confirmed cases of Legionnaires’ Disease traced to the hot tub at the club house at the 55+ community of about 1,100 manufactured homes in Lady Lake.

Read More:

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206 Million Eggs Recalled Over Salmonella Fears

A company has recalled more than 200 million eggs after an outbreak of salmonella was traced to one of its farms in North Carolina.

The federal Food and Drug Administration reported Friday that eggs from the affected farm were distributed to nine states — Colorado, Florida, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia — and were likely connected to 22 reported cases of salmonella infections.

Read more https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/15/business/egg-recall-salmonella.html

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CMS Requires Policies and Procedures for Legionella Control

On June 2, 2017, the Survey and Certification Group at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) issued a memorandum, “Requirement to Reduce Legionella Risk in Healthcare Facility Water Systems to Prevent Cases and Outbreaks of Legionnaires’ Disease (LD)” (“S&C Memo”), requiring that facilities develop and follow policies and procedures that inhibit microbial growth in building water systems to reduce the risk of growth and spread of Legionella and other pathogens in water.

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Copper ions and Chloramines Promote Pathogen Growth Under Certain Circumstances

Complexities associated with drinking water plumbing systems can result in undesirable interactions among plumbing components, undermining engineering controls for opportunistic pathogens (OPs). A study examines the effects of plumbing system materials and two commonly applied disinfectants, copper and chloramines, on water chemistry and the growth of Legionella and mycobacteria across a transect of bench- and pilot-scale hot water experiments carried out with the same municipal water supply.

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