Method for quantitation of microorganism contamination of liquids
AssigneePall Corporation
InventorsJeffrey Francis Kane, Noel Tod Borton
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Use of a disposable filtration capsule with a non-occluded membrane filter element in the place of a standard spiral wound cartridge allows for the more rapid and quantitative filtration, recovery, and quantitation of microorganisms in liquid, particularly surface waters, well water, tap water, and the like. The capsule allows a severe reduction in the water sample size tested, substantially minimizes risks of cross-contamination, and provides a leak-proof vessel for shipment. Risk of infection of laboratory personnel and time of analysis are both reduced. Costs of measuring contamination by microorganisms such as Giardia and Cryptosporidium is lowered significantly while increasing the accuracy and dependability of the measurement.
Claims20
A method for the quantitation of microorganisms in a suspected microorganism-containing fluid sample comprising:
- a) connecting a suspected microorganism-containing fluid sample source to a sample inlet of a disposable filtration capsule;
- b) flowing a known volume of said suspected microorganism-containing fluid sample through said disposable filtration capsule, said disposable filtration capsule comprising a polymeric housing having a sample inlet and an outlet;
- positioned between said sample inlet and said outlet a non-occluded filter element comprising a membrane such that all fluid flowing from said sample inlet to said outlet must pass through said filter element and wherein microorganism-containing sediment is trapped on an upstream side of said filter element, said disposable filtration capsule having an elution effective void volume;
- c) decanting liquid and the sediment from the upstream side of said filter element through said sample inlet of said disposable filtration capsule in the form of an initial eluate;
- d) quantitating one or more target microorganisms from said initial eluate.
A method for quantitating microorganisms in a suspected microorganism-containing fluid sample comprising:
- a) passing a known volume of a suspected microorganism-containing fluid sample through a filtration capsule comprising a housing including a non-occluded filter element having an upstream side and a downstream side, the filter element comprising a membrane, said filter element disposed in the filtration capsule such that all fluid flowing through the filtration capsule passes through the filter element and trapping microorganism-containing sediment on the upstream side of said filter element;
- b) passing from the housing an initial eluate comprising liquid and the sediment from the upstream side of the filter element;
- c) adding at least one volume of elution solution to said upstream side of said filter element, agitating said filtration capsule to resuspend at least a portion of any remaining sediment;
- d) passing from the housing at least one sediment eluate comprising the elution solution and the resuspended sediment from the upstream side of the filter element;
- and
- e) combining the initial eluate, and the at least one sediment elute to form a combined elute;
- and quantitating one or more target microorganisms from the combined elute.
A method for quantitating microorganisms in a suspected microorganism-containing fluid sample comprising:
- a) passing a known volume of a suspected microorganism-containing fluid sample through a filtration capsule comprising a housing including a non-occluded filter element having an upstream side and a downstream side, the filter element comprising a membrane, said filter element disposed in the filtration capsule such that all fluid flowing through the filtration capsule passes through the filter element and trapping microorganism-containing sediment on the upstream side of said filter element;
- b) passing from the housing an initial eluate comprising liquid and the sediment from the upstream side of the filter element;
- c) adding at least one volume of elution solution to said upstream side of said filter element, agitating said filtration capsule to resuspend at least a portion of any remaining sediment;
- d) passing from the housing a first sediment elute comprising the elution solution and the resuspended sediment from the upstream side of the filter element;
- e) adding at least one additional volume of the elution solution to said upstream side of said filtration element, agitating said filtration capsule to resuspend at least a portion of any remaining sediment;
- f) passing from the housing at least one additional sediment elute comprising the elution solution and the resuspended sediment from the upstream side of the filter element;
- g) combining the initial elute, the first sediment elute and the at least one addition elute to form a combined elute;
- and
- h) quantitating one or more target organisms from the combined elute.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.