The End Zone: Measuring Antimicrobial Effectiveness with Zones of Inhibition
Introduction:
A Kirby-Bauer test is a microbiological method used as a form of testing bacterial resistance, it’s also known as a Zone of Inhibition test (1). The way in which the Zone of Inhibition was determined in this experiment was by measuring the diameter of the resisted zone in 3 areas and taking an average. As numerical data was required for this it means that in this experiment the Zone of Inhibition Test was quantitative. However, as these numbers were then categorised into 3 areas, to solely determine if the bacteria were or weren’t resistant to the disinfectants, it means that the results are also qualitative.
Within this experiment 2 commonly known disinfectants (Milton and Dettol) were used at variable strengths against 2 strains of bacteria (E.coli and S.Aureus) with a purpose to see how resistant the bacteria was against the disinfectants. …show more content…
Within Milton the active ingredient is Sodium Hypochlorite(2), which has a chemical formula of NaClO(3). This differs to the active ingredient in Dettol which is 4-chloro-3,5-dimethylphenol (which is also known as PCMX)(4), this has a chemical formula of C8H9ClO(5). As these disinfectants have 2 different active ingredients it allows the experimental outcome to determine which of the disinfectants are better against E.coli and/or S.Aureus. The more successful the disinfectant is the greater the zone of inhibition will be. As the disinfectants both have 2 different active ingredients it suggests that they both have different
Introduction:
A Kirby-Bauer test is a microbiological method used as a form of testing bacterial resistance, it’s also known as a Zone of Inhibition test (1). The way in which the Zone of Inhibition was determined in this experiment was by measuring the diameter of the resisted zone in 3 areas and taking an average. As numerical data was required for this it means that in this experiment the Zone of Inhibition Test was quantitative. However, as these numbers were then categorised into 3 areas, to solely determine if the bacteria were or weren’t resistant to the disinfectants, it means that the results are also qualitative.
Within this experiment 2 commonly known disinfectants (Milton and Dettol) were used at variable strengths against 2 strains of bacteria (E.coli and S.Aureus) with a purpose to see how resistant the bacteria was against the disinfectants. …show more content…
Within Milton the active ingredient is Sodium Hypochlorite(2), which has a chemical formula of NaClO(3). This differs to the active ingredient in Dettol which is 4-chloro-3,5-dimethylphenol (which is also known as PCMX)(4), this has a chemical formula of C8H9ClO(5). As these disinfectants have 2 different active ingredients it allows the experimental outcome to determine which of the disinfectants are better against E.coli and/or S.Aureus. The more successful the disinfectant is the greater the zone of inhibition will be. As the disinfectants both have 2 different active ingredients it suggests that they both have different