Lovedtodeath Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 We did the swab on Friday. All I can see is mold; I don't see anything that looks like different kinds of germs. Now, they did get disturbed, so that could have something to do with it. Can someone help me to identify germs or shed some light on this experiment? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aludlam Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 Well, I don't have any idea about this particular experiment, but if you can give me some information, I would gladly try to help you (I was a medical microbiologist in a previous life.) Angela Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovedtodeath Posted March 11, 2010 Author Share Posted March 11, 2010 Thanks! Basically we swab our hands and then put it on a lid that has been filled with tomato soup. We are to observe and record the germs we see growing there. We see mold. Should we be seeing something else? Do some bacteria that grow look similar to mold when there are enough to see them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aludlam Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 Well, tomato soup --- that's a first!:001_smile: There are some bacteria that do grow larger and dryer. I bet you have fuzzies growing though. Our air, is just full of mold spores. You should be able to grow staph from your hands. Was the experiment to show that we aren't washing our hands enough? If you are really trying to see flora, I might try to repeat the experiment but swab the inside of your mouth (still not sure about that tomato soup though). If you describe your mold (which is normal to have growing) I'll try to give you an educated guess on it. Color, fuzzy, velvety, etc. Angela Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovedtodeath Posted March 12, 2010 Author Share Posted March 12, 2010 Some is white and velvetty and the other is the typical green stuff.:) Maybe we need less soup. It is touching the ziplock bag... there is very little air. Interestingly enough, the 2 year old's swab grew more mold. :lol: Maybe we could do our mouths before and after brushing our teeth, then compare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aludlam Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 Just guessing of course -- but the green is most like a Penicillium species. The white would most likely turn black in a few days and my guess would be Aspergillus species (probably niger). I did look up the tomato soup and it should work. It would be really hard to identify different bacteria that way though, esp. without a microscope. When I was in the lab, we had lots of different types of agars and broths. We could id most bacterias just by the way they looked on different mediums (we went on to actually do test to id them though). If I had more experence with the soup, I would be more help to you! Angela Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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