Pathogenic Bacteria and Everyday Life
Age - Category Senior
Division - Biological Science
Students - Melissa Kohlman, Ashley Miller
Mentor Information
Julia Taylor from holy cross secondary
Phone: 705-748-6664
Email: ebjtaylor@sympatico.ca
Project Summary
You might want to think twice before you touch a door knob, payphone or anything else for that matter. Bacteria is all around us, and most of it is harmless. It is the bacteria that is pathogenic or disease causing, that creates a risk for humans. In this investigation, we will concentrate on the location of bacterial growth, transmission, the prevention of the spread of dangerous bacteria, and bacteria in the food industry.
In the first part of the investigation, we investigated the amount of bacteria in different locations of Holy Cross Secondary School, and determined the place of highest bacterial growth using our own self-determined method of quantitative analysis. We then created slides of the bacteria from the location that had the most growth, determing different possibilites of the bacteria present. Finally we investigated how bacteria is transfered between humans most important tool- our hands and the amount of bacteria they may contain.
In the second part of the investigation, we concentrated on the prevention when it comes to harmful bacteria. We experimented with the effectiveness of hand sanitizer against soap and other cleaning agents and determined which was the most efficient.
In the final part of our investigation, we applied our knowledge gained by our previous experiments to the food industry. We called on historical cases such as Typhoid Mary, to further our investigation. Therefore testing the transfer and bacterial growth from our hands to food.
Overall, we hope our investigation is an interesting and informative look into bacteria, which is part everyday life, and is informing when it comes to where it lives, transmission and prevention, especially in the food industry.
