IMPORTANCE OF MICROBIOLOGY TESTING

The Earth is the carrier of the vitalizing essence or animating” principle categorized here as “Life” to differentiate from “life” as traditionally associated with organic things alone. Earth exceeds all its parts – organic and inorganic, including the human species — in creative importance. This article will allow you to understand the importance of microbiology and its testing.

What is Microbiology?

Microbiology is the study of microscopic organisms such as bacteria, viruses, fungi and protozoa. Most of these organisms are beneficial to us.  Humans have normal microbiota which helps in digestion. For plants the bacteria is responsible for nitrogen fixation and in animals it helps in cellulose digestion.

What is a microbiological test?

Microbiological analysis is the use of biological, biochemical, molecular or chemical methods for the detection, identification or enumeration of microorganisms in a material. It is often applied to disease causing and spoilage microorganisms. 

List of microbiological tests:

• Aspirate culture & sensitivity

• Aspirate for AFB

• Blood culture & sensitivity

• Cholera ag

• Chlamydia

• CSF- culture & sensitivity

• Ear culture & sensitivity

• Endocervical swab

• Eye culture & sensitivity

• Faecal occult blood

• HVS culture & sensitivity

• HVS routine examination

• Nasal swab

• Pleural aspirate culture & sensitivity

• Pus culture & sensitivity Rectal Swab for V. Cholerae

• Semen analysis

• Semen culture & sensitivity

• Skin scrapping

• Skin snip

• Sputum for acid fast bacilli

• Sputum culture & sensitivity

• Stool culture & sensitivity

• Stool routine & examination

• Throat swab culture & sensitivity

• Urethral swab culture & sensitivity

• Urethral swab R/E

• Urine AFB

• Urine culture & Sensitivity

• Acid fast bacilli

• Urine ketones

• Urine Pregnancy Test

• Urine routine examination

• Wound swab

• Mantoux test

What is the purpose of Microbiological testing?

The purpose of microbiological testing should be to identify and restrict harmful microorganisms, which can spoil foods, and ensure safety from food borne diseases. This means that the responsible ones (or the quality assurance team in a facility) must establish a thorough testing procedure to identify all the possible threats, which may lead to one of the two results: pathogen not detected or detected.

What are the reasons for a microbiology test?

There are many reasons for conducting a microbiology test the most prominent reasons among them are,

1. It helps to meet the desired specifications for raw material, intermediate and finished product.

2. It helps to identify the risk factors.

3. It helps to process verification and

4. It helps to confirm that regulatory guidelines are followed.

What is a microbiology testing service?

Microbiology testing services are a crucial requirement across many industries worldwide where products, processes and human health are at a risk of being negatively affected by the presence and the breeding of microorganisms such as specific pathogens, bacteria, yeast and moulds.

 While many microbes are harmless to humans, others can cause serious problems. They can spoil food, introduce toxins, cause disease and lead to a host of other problems. The importance of microbiological testing is to quickly identify these contaminants and treat them before they do irreversible damage.

Microbiology testing lab:

Microbiology testing labs has various equipments such as microscopes; slides; test tubes; petri dishes; growth mediums, both solid and liquid; inoculation loops; pipettes and tips; incubators; autoclaves, and laminar flow hoods. Some equipment, like the microscopes and hoods, are permanent items, whereas others, such as pipette tips, are disposable. 

Having an autoclave is one way to be able to reuse equipment, such as slides and petri dishes that may otherwise have been thrown away.

What is the ultimate need for microbiology test?

Microbiological examination plays a vital role in the diagnosis and the control of infectious disease such as COVID-19. As such examination identifies micro-organisms likely to be involved in the disease and their presence and susceptibility to chemotherapeutic agents, case-specific antimicrobial regimens can be made based on the results