Good Essay About Microbiology

Essay Discussion

Essay 1
The following eye infections have been described in brief below:
Conjunctivitis
It is an eye infection that involves the swelling of the bulbar conjunctiva which is the clear membrane that covers the white part of the eye and also lines the inner surface of the eyelids . It is also known as pink eye. Nearly 15 percent of the conjunctivitis infections are caused due to bacterial infections such as Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, Pneumococcus, Moraxella and Haemophilus species. In the case of kids, nearly 50 percent of the conjunctivitis infections are caused by bacteria. In adults, the majority of the conjunctivitis infections are caused by viruses such as adenovirus that are highly infectious in nature. The symptoms of the infection include pink eye, itching in the eye, leaky eye, eyelids that are stuck and a foreign body sensation in the eye .
Treatment for bacterial conjunctivitis includes antibiotic therapy lasting between 5 to 7 days with erythromycin ointments or bacitracin-polymyxin-B ointment. There is no effective drug treatment for viral conjunctivitis.

Blepharitis

Blepharitis is a broad set of lid margin inflammation infections that may cause changes in the eye structures. Staphylococcal Blepharitis may lead to pain, photophobia, tearing, redness, blurred vision, and discharge. The main symptoms of this infection include lid hyperemia, yellow crusts, collarettes, folliculitis, poliosis, postules, abscesses and ulcerative blepharitis . An external sty is often seen in this infection.
Since classification is difficult, the treatment remains a challenge. In most cases, there is no specific treatment and may be restricted to initial phases only. Treatment may include combination of anti-bacterial drugs such as trimethoprim and polymixin B and ciprofloxacin . Steroid antibiotics may be used in patients where itching is severe.

Keratitis

Keratitis is the infection of the cornea. The symptoms of this infection include multiple swollen intraepithelial lesions that are located primarily at the limbus that stain only with light fluroscein but heavily with rose Bengal dye . The signs of this infection are unilateral red eye with pain, photophobia, tearing, reduced vision, and a defect in the cornea.

Treatment includes oral antiviral agents such as viroptic eye drops every 2 hours, herplex eye drops every 1 hour, and Vira-A ointment .

Trachoma
Trachoma is caused by the infection of the conjunctiva by Chlamydia trachomatis and is characterized by swelling of the conjunctiva of the eye. It is the main cause of blindness due to eye infections . The in-turning of the eye lashes in the infection leads to scarring of the cornea and thus blindness.

Treatment includes antibiotics such as azithromycin.

Cellulitis
Orbital cellulitis includes the infections of the soft tissues in the orbit. The symptoms include unilateral eye swelling, eye pain and some proptosis or opthalmopegia or both .
The treatment includes intermuscular or intramuscular antibiotics. Hospitalization and surgery may be needed for severe infections.

Essay 2

Sterilization is the process of destruction or removal of microorganisms in a product or a package. It has been found that the mechanism of the destruction of the organisms by dry heat is different from that by moist heat and may be caused due to higher heat stability of the proteins in the dry state .
The probability of detection of contamination rises with the increase in the number of contaminated units in a batch. The risk of sterilization failure is common when samples are taken from coolest part of a load . The total time taken for sterilization depends on the density of the goods and the temperature of the sterilizer. The time taken for sterilization depends on the number of surviving microorganisms in the load at the initial stage of sterilization. The increase in the temperature for sterilization drastically reduces the time taken for the sterilization process.
The time taken for sterilization process depends on the type of sterilization and the type of indicator used. For example immediate use steam sterilization is used for items that are not to be stored for a later time.
Low temperature hydrogen peroxide plasma sterilization method may be used for moisture and heat sensitive items . Dry heat sterilization may be used when other methods are not effective and when other methods could damage the materials.

References

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