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Essay On Unknown Bacteria

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Introduction:
The study conducted was to determine the unknown bacterium that was given by the Microbiology lab instructor. The purpose of this exercise is to go through a series of testing in order to identify a microorganism, how it grows, reproduces and how the bacteria can be treated and killed. The techniques involved in this study included; what type of agar to use, inoculating, proper sterilization, gram staining and how to handle bacteria in order to avoid contamination.
Materials and Methods:
The patient in questioned presented with symptoms of painful urination for the past 2 weeks accompanied by lower back pain and fever. The fever didn’t appear until two days ago. The patient, 17 years of age and female stated that she wasn’t sexually active until 2 months ago. The patient file documented that a blood sample was taken and that the patient had an unknown bacterium. Listed below are the tests ran in order to determine the unknown bacterium.
¬ MacConkey Agar
The MacConkey Agar is a selective and differential medium that is used to determine whether or not the bacteria can ferment lactose. The bile salts and crystal inhibits growth for gram-positive bacteria and cause color change. In this case there was no color change, but there was growth. This indicates a gram-negative bacterium. Upon further inspection, the pigment of the growth on the agar plate was beige with a circular colony form. The bacteria appeared raised, smooth and translucent. A sample of the

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