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Thu, 6 Mar 2008 21:52:30 -0500 |
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ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
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Alissa;
When we were prototyping Hidden Kingdoms in the early '90's I
had children wash their hands after pressing their hands on petri
dishes with nutrient agar and repressing them on fresh agar plates .
As I recall we were hard pressed to see any differences between the
pre and post washed hands much to the dismay of parent.s They felt we
were undermining their demands that children wash their hands.
Surgeons clean their hands-using antimicrobial soaps and vigorous
brushing-and then they wear gloves. Ordinary and washing does clean
hands but because there are so many bacteria on hands that the
differences will not be that apparent. Ordinary soap is not
bacteriocidal. But you should try it and see. A call to your local
health department might be a good idea.
Some maybe bacteria on hands of children maybe pathogenic but I
suspect not that there may not be many different pathogens. I have a
book in my office, that I will look at tomorrow, that catalogues the
range of bacteria found on normal skin. Autoclaving or soaking the
petri dishes in bleach is prudent before disposal.
Let us know what you find. I'd be interested to know if my
recollection of our results is reproducible.
Best,
Martin
>
>
>So we're doing a program on handwashing, and I'd like to try growing
>out some petri dishes with samples from pre and post-washed hands. I
>don't have a proper incubator and am not willing/able to buy one,
>and am looking for alternatives--a warm window, a toaster oven, the
>top of a toaster oven.... Anything else that will give me some
>measure of success.
>
>Any other tips or suggestions are also welcome, as I haven't done
>this since my freshman year of college (ie, a while ago) when we ran
>around with Q-tips and swabbed bathrooms, keyboards and anything
>else we could get at...
>
>thanks,
>AD
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>Alissa Daniels, Science Program Manager
>Boston Children's Museum
>617-426-6500 x342
>www.BostonChildrensMuseum.org
>The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds
>new discoveries, is not "Eureka!" (I found it!) but "That's
>funny..." --Isaac Asimov
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