Bacillus spp. with Exudate

These little guys were quite a pain in my rear as the bacillus stains purple while the exudate stains red, and the big bosses do not like seeing these two colors together when we're trying to isolate a growth.

I haven't had much to update with. I started my 12 hour rotating shifts, it sucks to work some weekends, but then again it's nice to have days off during the week to take care of doctor appointments and such. I've been doing a lot of QC/QA work lately, along with reading plates, bioburden analysis, finishing my Dye Ingress training, lots of data entry, sterility checks on media and pH measurements. I also started my ISO 5 clean room certification so I can start working within the sterility rooms. Bunny suits are not so easy to put on when you can't sit down! There are benches in the actual gowning room so hopefully that part will be easier. Got my work issued scrubs, we're not allowed to wear them outside of the building. I just change into them before gowning up.

Escherichia coli

Another fine microscope photo of E. coli!

Salmonella typhimurium

Just in time for the egg recall! Salmonella typhimurium, this probably isn't the same strain involved in the recall but the gram stain would be similar. Still a nasty bug!

Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Pseudomonas aeruginosa has some brilliant reactions on specific media. We only culture it on TSA, but if we let it grow for more than 24 hours the dense colonies turn a blue-green color. My favorite reaction is on Centrimide agar, where it turns a fantastic florescent yellow-green. It likes to lurk in dirty hot tubs, so beware!

Escherichia coli

Escherichia coli, I think this was just a generic strain from ATCC and not 0157:H7 or any other emerging strain. E. coli is abundant in the intestinal tracts of mammals and is considered a fecal contaminate, some strains like 0157:H7 are enterohemorrhagic, which in a nutshell means they burrow into your intestines causing inflammation, diarrhea and bleeding. You'd be surprised how many people don't understand my "E. coli happens" shirt.

Candida albicans

One of my absolute favorites for morphology and color! Candida albicans is a yeast commonly found in the vagina, mouth and on skin, but it is an opportunistic pathogen and can cause yeast infections and thrush when there is a change in the body's normal flora (antibiotics, for example).