Sensitive Detection And Quantification Of Pathogenic Bacteria Using Fluorescence Based Optical Technique

Nature of bacterial infections and the influence of pathogenic bacteria on cells are of critical interest to researchers in microbiology, medicine and drug design. Detection, identification and quantification of such pathogenic bacteria in a shortest time is a major requirements in food and healthcare sectors. Foodborne diseases are primarily caused by various pathogenic micro-organism. It has been known that enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) and enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) are important human pathogens that cause persistent diarrhea, especially in young children. Enterohemorrhagic E-coli O157:H7 is one of the most dangerous pathogen causes disease that may lead to death. The bacterial growth is multiplexing in time and hence there is a need for replacing the traditional methods by rapid sensing one. Fluorescence based optical sensing is one of the rapid sensing method and the sensor which we developed has the sensitivity to detect the E-coli bacteria in the range from 105 cells/ml to 109 cells/ml. The sensitivity limit of 105 cells/ml has been arrived and the results are in comparison with the standard Perkin-Elmer Fluorimeter. Moreover it exhibited a good repeatability, reproducibility and stability