EFFECT OF WATER ON THE DEATH RATE OF
            <i>SERRATIA MARCESCENS</i>

Monk, G. W.; Elbert, M. L.; Stevens, Calvin L.; McCaffrey, Patricia A.

doi:10.1128/jb.72.3.368-372.1956

Cited by 13 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…A qualitatively similar zone of rapid decay was discovered by different methods by Monk et al (1956). These investigators freeze-dried thin layers of S. marcescens suspended in Naylor-Smith medium (Naylor and Smith, 1946) and added water either by injection or by equilibration at constant RH.…”

supporting

confidence: 56%

Relative Humidity and the Killing of Bacteria

Bateman¹,

McCaffrey²,

O’Connor³

et al. 1961

Applied Microbiology

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The viability of washed moist cells of Serratia marcescens after storage has been measured in relation to variations in the prior treatment of the cells and in conditions of storage. The factors considered were: (i) water content during storage; (ii) method of arriving at water content (partial drying in vacuum or freezedrying and addition of water); (iii) presence or absence of air during storage. Increasingly rapid decay occurs as the water content at which the cells are stored is diminished from above 90 % to 20 or 30 % ("critical" water content). It occurs in presence or absence of air and it occurs whether the final water content is approached by removal of water from wet cells or by addition of water to freeze-dried cells. The rate of decay during storage at 20 to 30 % water is somewhat diminished by the presence of air ("protective" effect of air). As the water content is further reduced to less than 10%, the stability of cells stored in a vacuum approaches that of wet cells. In presence of air the reverse is true: the stability decreases until at less than 1% water, the decay rate is about as great as at the "critical" water content ("toxic" effect of air). Particularly rapid decay of S. marcescens at the ''critical" water content has escaped attention in aerosol studies because accurate control of relative humidity (RH) in this region, RH 94 to 99 %, is virtually im

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supporting

confidence: 56%

Relative Humidity and the Killing of Bacteria

Bateman¹,

McCaffrey²,

O’Connor³

et al. 1961

Applied Microbiology

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“…The loss of viability of bacteria in the aerosol state has been studied extensively (Ferry, Brown, and Damon, 1958). Moreover, in certain instances (Monk et al, 1956; bacteria which have survived drying are found to die at a rapid rate when exposed to critical moisture levels.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence of Cytoplasmic Membrane Injury in the Drying of Bacteria

Wagman¹

1960

J Bacteriol

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“…The results of all the experiments are given in table 1. The logarithmic death rate, k, is defined as in the earlier paper (Monk et al, 1956): Figure 2. The change in water content of the bacterial suspension during freeze-drying and subsequent rewetting due to sorption of water at a vapor pressure corresponding to 94 per cent relative humidity.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a previous paper (Monk et al, 1956) on the effect of water on the death rate of Serratia marcescens, a particularly lethal effect was found at a water content of about 50 per cent in the mixture of cells and additives. Since the vapor pressure characteristics of the cells and each of the components was not known in detail it was not possible to determine how much of this water was in the cells and whether the rapid loss of viability was due to a toxic effect of some component.…”

mentioning

confidence: 90%