The Growth of Escherichia Coli in Buffer Substrate and Distilled Water

a suspension of cells of Escherichia coli strain B/r with disifectant and found that after treat-ment none or only a few viable organisms were present. However, when the liquid (containing the cells which had been exposed to the disin-fectant) was mixed with a solution of a metab-olite in phosphate buffer and incubated overnight at 37 C, a large number of viable cells was found. (Similar results were obtained with several disinfectants, including sodium hypochlorite.) Heinmets et al. suggest that the increase in numbers was due to reactivation of the damaged, but not dead, cells and was not due to multi-plication of a few viable cells remaining in the buffer substrate. This would necesitate a radical