Medical Notes 2

  Algae The algae also known as sea weeds, pond scrubs, frog spittle and water mosses (L.alga = sea weeds Gr.phykos – sea weeds) are studied under algology (Gr.phykology phykos-sea weeds+logos- dis-course or study. They are simple plants with autotiophic nutrition. They are chlorophyll bearing organisms (and their colourless relatives ) which are thalloid and have not differentiated as roots, stems and leaves. Their occurrence is universal and found in all kinds of habitats in fresh as well as sea waters, soil, on within other plants and even animals, rock stones, in desert sand and snow fields. Based on their habitat they are classified as aquatic growing in fresh and brackish water, terrestrial (edaphophytes), on rocks and stones (lithophytic), halophytic growing in water of high concentrations of salinity, psammon algae of sandy beaches, thermal algae of hot waters near hot springs, cryophytic algae (on ice or snow) forming different colours of the snow. Epiphytic algae occurrin...

  MICROBIOLOGY OF AIR   The air contains gases, dust particles, dried vapor droplets, in addition to these, air also contains more number of microorganisms. The air has vegetative cells and spores of bacteria, fungi and algae and protozoan cyst. In the atmosphere, air mainly acts as dispersal or transport medium for microorganisms. When compared to soil or water, air contains less numbers of microorganisms. The microbiol-ogy of air can be studied under two headings such as outdoor and indoor microflora. Outdoor microflora The air in the atmosphere, which is found outside the buildings, is referred to as  outside air . The dominant microflora of outside air are fungi. The two common genera of fungi are  Sporobolomyces . Besides these two genera, other genera found in airare  Aspergillus and, Alternaria ,  Phytophthora ysipheEr  . The out-door air also contains basidispores, ascopores of yeast, fragments of mycelium and conidia of molds.   ...

  MICROBIOLOGY OF WATER   The drinking water of most communities and municipalities is obtained from surface sources - rivers, streams and lakes. Such natu-ral water supplies are likely to be polluted with domestic and industrial water. Many city dwellers (whose water comes from the rivers) are not  aw are that a considerable portion of their drinking water may have been used earlier for domestic and industrial purposes. Water is used for bathing, washing clothes, washing utensils and flushing toi-lets. The domestic water consumption may vary with the availability of water. Most of the water taken into the houses may be returned as waste water through drainage system. All these waste waters contain organic and inorganic waste as suspended or dissolved matter. In ad-dition, these waste waters contain microorganisms, including those of faecal origin and pathogenic nature. As a potential of pathogenic or-ganisms, water can be in danger to health and life. The pathogens most ...

  Sources of water pollution The only source of potable fresh water nature provides is the rain water. This itself gets polluted by the action of nature, as water falls on land and runs as stream, gathering different types of minerals and suspended particles. In this running water, due to anthropogenic activities, more minerals, more chemicals and organic materials are added, that makes the water polluted. There are three main sources of pollution of waters. 1.             Sewage or municipal effluents (or) domestic effluents   2.             Industrial effluents   3.             Agricultural pollution   1.        Sewage or Municipal effluents   The quality of water after bath, kitchen work, washing of clothes and animals etc. a large volume of r aw  sewage discharg...