How Can Bacterial Growth Be Controlled?

Bacteria are microorganisms found in just about every square inch of the earth. Invisible to the naked eye, not all bacteria are bad or harmful to mankind. Some bacteria are useful in a number of ways, while other bad bacteria is detrimental. Bad bacteria gives rise to diseases, such as malaria, tuberculosis, cholera and tetanus, and causes body odor and hair loss. These bacteria need to be controlled or eliminated.

Controlling Growth

• It is not possible to destroy or control all bacteria. The bodies natural resistance mechanisms control unhealthy bacterias in many cases, preventing them from wrecking havoc within the body; but good bacteria also exist within people that help digest food and do other important functions. As a result, destroying all bacteria in the body would be undesirable. The same is true for environmental bacteria. You would not want to destroy it all. Inhibiting microbial growth is thus achieved in one of two ways: select bacteria can be either totally killed, in a process known as bactericide, or the growth of the cells can be stunted severely, in what is called a bacteriostatic process.

Sterilization

• Bacteria are found in a number of places and killing them or inhibiting their growth depends on their location. Some bacteria found in the human body are killed using a certain method, while those found in the environment have to be killed using another method.

  Sterilization is a time tested method of killing environmental bacteria. This process kills not only bacteria, but also all existing microbes so cannot be used on bacteria found in the human body. The most popular methods of sterilization include heating, boiling, autoclaving (producing steam under pressure or in a pressure cooker) and using dry heat, or the kind found in an oven.

Other Methods

• Irradiation is another method of killing bacteria. This method uses ultraviolet; gamma and electron beam radiation. This method is commonly used to kill bacteria on surgical instruments. Filtration is another method of killing bacteria as is the use of chemicals and gases. Gases such as ethylene oxide and formaldehyde are popular bacteria killers. Bacteria are also killed or controlled by a process called ozone sterilization or a process called pasteurization. Finally, bacterial growth can be controlled or bacteria can be killed by exposing the bacteria to low temperature of -195 degrees F or to antibiotics; antiseptics and disinfectants.