Abstract

Radiosterilization of cotton based product for the improvement of microbiological quality

Author(s): Md. Al Arif Kabir, Mohammad Omar Faruk, Tabassum Mumtaz, Md. Kamruzzaman Pramanik,Harun-Or-Rashid

The study was designed to determine the bioburden of locally manufactured surgical gauzes. Seven surgical gauzes labelled as ‘sterile’ were cultured onto nutrient agar, MacConkey Agar, Mannitol Salt Agar and Sabourad DextroseAgar for the determination ofTotalViableBacterialCounts (TVBC), Total ColiformCount (TCC), Total Staphylococcal Count (TSC) and Total Fungal Count (TFC), respectively. All samples were found to be contaminated at 101 to 105 CFU/g level with bacterial contaminants such as Bacillus spp., Streptococcus spp., Micrococcus spp., and Staphylococcus aureus. For quality improvement, samples were subjected to a series of radiation doses of 2.0, 2.5, 5.0, 15 and 25 kGy. Among bacterial isolates, species of Bacillus showed highest level of resistance to radiation dose.A dose of 25 kGywas found suitable for the total elimination of contaminants rendering the product sterile.