MCC BIO235 Discussions Latest 2021 October (Full)

BIO235 Introduction to Microbiology

Unit 1 Discussion

Introduce yourselves!

Tell us something about yourself & your present professional career...

Tell us something about your academic goals, and

Why are you taking this class?

Have you taken an On-Line course before, and what are your thoughts?

Include a picture of yourself if you like! (optional, but appreciated!)

Start the discussion board by clicking on the blue, underlined “Introductions” heading. Express your original thought/post with the "Create Thread" heading, then reply to at least 2 other classmate’s original post.

BIO235 Introduction to Microbiology

Unit 2 Discussion

Safe Food Supply

The recent outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 found on fresh spinach leaves is a concern for our society.  More than 180 people in 23 states have become sick, and several have died so far.

             Needless to say, our food is considerably safer to eat today than it was hundreds of years ago.  For example, in medieval times human sewage/waste water supplies were created near natural water sources.  Microbes and contaminants would thus pollute the water source and cause disease.  Obviously, drinking water from underground springs – which was away from the human waste contaminated water sources – did not cause disease, and thus was attributed “medicinal” powers.  (This notion - that bottled water from natural springs is healthier for us – is still around even today!)  In modern times water supply locations are carefully planned and are constantly monitored so that contaminant levels are kept at safe government mandated levels.

            Concerning the spinach crisis, we have failed to listen to years of human history – that cooking food will prevent us from dying from it.   A few decades ago canned and frozen foods (which need to be cooked) were the latest and greatest, emphasizing convenience, long storage life and low cost.  Today’s trends, however, are fresh, unprocessed, and bagged so that they are ready to eat for quick, nutritious and easy meals.  Examples are the salads and vegetables in a bag which are common in every food store.  Bagged salads assume that the vegetables are healthier because they are “fresh” and minimally processed, and it gives the consumer an illusion of safety.  But the vegetables are not sterile, not pasteurized, and exposed to light and air which promote bacterial growth.  The vegetables are subjected to chlorinated cleaning which is good for removing the microbes and dirt on the surface, but microbes can enter the leaves through the cut / break or the leaf from the stalk and live inside the leaves for 6 months or longer.  Chlorination and general washing cannot remove the internal bacteria.  While it takes 100 million cholera (Vibrio cholerae) bacteria to cause their infection, it only takes 10 – 100 E.coli O157:H7 cells to cause illness.  And it only takes one bacteria contaminated leaf to spread and contaminate every leaf in the bag. 

      Cooking the spinach will kill the bacteria, and the canning process also uses very high heat that guarantees bacterial death.   But what about the loss of nutrients resulting from the heating process?  Contrary to some reports, cooking vegetables does not necessarily make the vegetables less nutritious.  While cooking spinach does reduce vitamin C content, the loss is made up by the fact that most Americans already get enough vitamin C from other food sources.  Moreover, spinach’s claim to fame is that it is a good source of iron.  However, cooking releases more iron from the spinach leaves, thus a person will get more iron from cooked spinach than from fresh!

So what does this all signify? How are we going to keep the US food supply safe from E. coli and other microbes? Do we ban bagged vegetables, or not allow fresh vegetables at all? Do we improve the quality control in the food processing plants? If we do, that will cost a great amount of $$ to implement, and consequently will significantly raise the cost of food. As a result, the extreme increase in production costs will drive the smaller companies and local farmers out of business. Does the government have the right to impose such controls? Can we sue the food company that unknowingly sold the contaminated spinach?  Should we have disclaimers in the market saying – “Eat raw carrots at your own risk”?  And what are you going to do at your next party when you come to the fresh veggie platter and dip?!?

BIO235 Introduction to Microbiology

Unit 3 Discussion

Soaps and Antiseptics

In an effort to become a healthier, cleaner society, we all understand the importance of hand washing. Soap companies in the last few years have introduced antibacterial soaps with the antibacterial ingredient Triclosan.  Triclosan was banned from soap products in 2017 but is still allowed in toothpaste. Moreover, Triclosan does not readily degrade and is said to stay active in the water, thus opening an opportunity for bacteria to become resistant to Triclosan and other similar antibacterial agents.  These large companies also promote hand sanitizers, which are primarily alcohol (about 70%), and don’t require water and rinsing. Hand sanitizers may destroy the bacterial cell wall, but with no rinsing the dirt and other molecules are still on your hands. 

Hospitals now allow employees to skip hand washing between patients if the hands are not visibly soiled and instead use just hand sanitizers. Today there are over 200 different types of antibacterial soaps on the market, so, with all these soaps and hand sanitizer products, shouldn’t we be much healthier? And with the advent of Covid-19 we have used hand sanitizers over, and over and over again.  With all of this hand washing and use of hand sanitizers we should be able to stop the spread of disease - right??!  In actuality disease rates have not changed due to the increase usage of these products, and we are in a multi-year Covid pandemic. 

So what should we do? Stop using antibacterial soaps? Should we formulate new ones? Or should we just use the Hand sanitizers? Or not? Do you think and sanitizers are increasing bacterial drug resistance as well? Should we just go back to old fashioned bar soap?  Is it OK for clinicians to just use hand sanitizer between patients?

 Express your original thought/post as a New Thread, then make at least one reply to at least 2 different classmate’s original posts. 10 points total

BIO235 Introduction to Microbiology

Unit 4 Discussion

Biotechnology Out of Control?

The Boston area is famous worldwide for its cutting edge research and its leading frontiers in biomedical advances.  Therefore, it is not surprising that Boston University has received federal government funding and has built a high security, state of the art Bioterrorism Research Facility right in the heart of Boston.  Many are upset that this laboratory facility is built in the city next to the low socioeconomic neighborhoods, thus putting these neighborhoods at risk if an accident happens.  Others are against it being built at all, saying that the biotechnology will get into the hands of the wrong people and promote bioterrorism.  Some do not like that fact that the city and the Mayor of Boston have been so secretive about this project, indicating a possibility that the government is actually conducting secret genetically engineered organisms/plants to be released in our environment!(?)!

     So what do you think?  Should this facility be built somewhere else – maybe in other state?  Was it a mistake to build it at all?  What controls should be placed to guarantee that "mad scientists" don't genetically modify our food, plants, etc.?  Would you want to work there?  Would you mind living next to that facility?  What happens if a mistake occurs and some experimental organisms somehow get released into the environment?  Should we just slow down biotechnology and keep it out of our food supply and environment just like the organic food farmers are saying?

     Start the discussion board by clicking on the blue, underlined  "Biotechnology out of control?"  heading.  Express your original thought/post, then make at least one reply to 2 different classmate's original posts.

BIO235 Introduction to Microbiology

Unit 5 Discussion

To vaccinate or not?... That is the question....

The Covid-19 pandemic has negatively affected every person either directly or indirectly in some way.  The fact that Covid-19 is a virus makes the challenge even greater - viruses are not living entities and they cannot be killed.  We have to wait until our immune system can destroy the virus, or we can get help from man made vaccines which boost our immune system to combat the virus.  Viral vaccines are nothing new.  The first viral vaccine was the polio vaccine in 1955, which was closely followed by many other virus vaccines such as measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis, rabies, smallpox, etc.   And every year a new "flu" vaccine is formulated and widely distributed to combat the yearly new strains of flu viruses. 

So in the US we have been successfully distributing new and quickly developed Covid-19 vaccines by several different pharmaceutical drug companies, and booster vaccines are readily available.  Expectedly, everyone should be thrilled with the prospect of receiving the Covid-19 vaccine - vaccinating everyone against polio had eradicated polio outbreaks worldwide.  Once our population gets vaccinated we can finally get a handle on this devastating pandemic and start putting back the pieces of a normal daily existence.  However, there is a significant amount of resistance by numerous people who say that they will not take the vaccine.  For example, some people don't trust the vaccine, some say the side effects and efficacy are not known, others claim it's against their religious beliefs, some say they won't take it because it has been developed under the Trump presidency, and some claim vaccines cause autism.  Some have medical exemptions.

Should the US population get vaccinated by mandate? What happens if in the future we start developing undesirable side effects - should we continue the vaccinations or not? The Biden administration has mandated that certain groups of workers get vaccinated by a certain date if they want to continue working. Will employees actually get the vaccine or lose their jobs?  Can stores/restaurants/gyms/movie theaters, etc. require that only Covid vaccinated people are allowed to enter their establishment?  Is this another form of discrimination?

Start the discussion board by clicking on the blue “ To vaccinate or not?... That is the question....” heading.  Express your original thought/post under "Create Thread", then make at least two replies to your classmate’s original post.