human pathogens in agar plates

[macca]

Thanks Smiley I didn't think I was going nuts I'm so used to saying no no no.

The Title of the Prac., is "Where are those germs"

[smiley]

The Title of the Prac., is "Where are those germs"

And the answer is: Not in my lab!

[macca]

ha ha I wish; but with 800 snot juggling gremlins coming through each day I'd say heaps of germs. Darling cherubs

[rae]

Macca ,
I've just looked and this is the text book we use too. I don't understand how text book can be written that potentially encourage bad practice and potentially put us and the students and teachers at risk. Where is there risk assessment?
There are other pracs in these books that I look at and just think where the hell do they get them from and have the authors ever actually performed these pracs because they are crap!!

[MariaC]

I agree Macca, there's one that gets the students to light a bunsen burner and then tilt it to burn a substance (flame test from memory)! I instantly banned it, who gets students to handle a lit bunsen burner???? when much safer and proven methods are available.
MariaC

[mtg]

We just had a current micro biologist come in to supervise year 9 microbes. She said we wouldn't be able to grow disease without blood agar. We still taped all the petri dishes around the edge and used gloves to handle them and bleached all the benches after looking at the growths and then I autoclaved everything including gloves.
But for a Biol demo I put my bare toe on the nutrient agar plate, and then on another 2 with a drop of bleach on one and disinfectant on another. Worked a treat. But now I have a bit of a phobia regarding my toe.