Our world is dominated by single-celled microorganisms that can survive in extreme and strange places. These habitats include the human body, where about one microorganism lives in every human cell. Many of these microorganisms are harmless or even good for our health, but some can cause us severe illness. To make matters worse, many dangerous microorganisms Pathogen, can be transmitted from person to person. This infection can introduce pathogens and pose a serious problem for hospitals that attract large numbers of sick people.

In the mid-1840s, a Viennese doctor named Ignaz Semmelweis realized that simply washing your hands could reduce the spread of disease. This was the beginning of our understanding of disinfection in hospitals. Since then, scientists and doctors have learned to use a variety of chemicals to kill pathogens and keep patients safe. One of the most powerful disinfecting chemicals is sodium hypochlorite, also known as bleach. This chemical kills microorganisms by destroying the outside of the cell and changing its internal chemistry. Bleach is so effective that doctors have been using it as a hospital disinfectant for nearly 200 years. But even though it is highly lethal, it does not kill all microorganisms.

To investigate how some microorganisms survive bleach treatment, a team of scientists from the University of Plymouth in the UK studied a pathogen called clostridioides difficile. This microorganism causes diarrhea and is notoriously difficult to kill. clostridioides difficile It produces durable minicells called spore. Transmission can occur between patients through contact. These spores are in a kind of hibernation state. clostridioides difficile Comes with a durable outer shield. The spores wait quietly until they reach the human colon, where they awaken and cause disease. These spores are very difficult to kill, so scientists wanted to know how effective normal hospital disinfection protocols were against them.

Scientists first grew clostridioides difficile Spores were collected in the laboratory. They tried to kill these spores using regular strength, 5x strength, and 10x strength bleach. They treated the spores with different bleach mixtures for 10 minutes to see how many survived. Even if you use a bleach that is 10 times stronger than normal strength hospital bleach, clostridioides difficile The spores died after treatment.

Next, the scientists wanted to know how well the spores were transported within the hospital on patient and surgical gowns. They lightly sprayed a sample of 10 million spores onto a fabric gown and treated it with three different strengths of bleach. The scientists then dabbed the fabric gown onto the agar plate they used for the culture. clostridioides difficile They then counted how many spores survived and grew. Again, only 10% of the spores were killed by this treatment.

Finally, the scientists wanted to see if the bleach treatment was affecting the spore’s outer shield. Spores are only 1 micrometer long, or about 1/25,000th of an inch. These spores are too small to be seen with the naked eye, so scientists used a special electron microscope to see them clearly. This microscope uses a high-power beam of electron particles to provide much better resolution than standard optical microscopes. The researchers used the device to compare the shape of spores before and after bleaching. Scientists reasoned that because the pathogen survived the bleaching process, the outer surface of the spores was probably unaffected. This is exactly what they saw in the microscopic images. Treated and untreated spores looked exactly like each other and showed no signs of degradation due to bleach.

Scientists concluded that clostridiodes difficile It utilizes a durable spore form to withstand bleach disinfection. Stopping the spread of infectious diseases is extremely difficult. The researchers suggested that doctors combat these spores by using different fabrics in hospital and surgical gowns to prevent the spores from sticking to them. Doctors also urged caution in disinfection methods. Finally, they suggested that future researchers focus on new ways to destroy these spores and prevent the spread of infectious diseases. clostridiodes difficile.

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