Detection of bacteria and biofilms
What are bacteria?
Bacteria are microscopic living organisms that consist of only one cell. Millions (if not billions) of different types of bacteria are found all over the world, including in your body. They live on your skin, in your respiratory tract, and in your mouth. They are also in your digestive, reproductive, and urinary tracts.
Most types of bacteria are not harmful. Some are even good for you. These beneficial bacteria are mainly found on your skin or in your intestines/digestive system. They are called resident flora, or your microbiome (groups of microorganisms that live in and on your body).
Most bacteria are harmless, but certain types can make you sick. These bacteria are a type of pathogen that multiply rapidly in your body and release toxins that can cause infections.
What are biofilms?
Biofilm is a layer of bacteria or other microbes that grows on and adheres to the surface of a structure. A biofilm can cover natural surfaces, such as teeth and other parts of the human body, as well as material surfaces around us.
Bacterial biofilms are clusters of bacteria that adhere to surfaces and to each other, embedded in a self-produced matrix. Under the right conditions, biofilms can grow up to a centimeter per day!
Detection of bacteria and biofilms
Biofilms and bacteria pose an invisible risk in any hygiene-sensitive environment, such as the food and beverage industry, healthcare, mold control, and even nuclear power. The physical detection of bacteria and biofilms is primarily performed using ATP tests, which involve taking a swab sample and analyzing it. The disadvantage of ATP tests is that only the swabbed surface is analyzed, making the detection of larger surfaces costly and time-consuming.
If organic material such as bacteria and fungi are visible, there is a good chance that contamination is present. Swab tests usually confirm this, but microbial contamination is often invisible to the naked eye. This makes it unclear where a swab should be taken.. This can lead to general testing, which is time-consuming and expensive and may still not identify the root cause of the problem.
With the Bioglo detection lamp, you can make invisible bacterial contaminants, such as biofilms, visible on larger surfaces in just a few seconds.This advanced inspection lamp is specially designed for quality control in hygiene-sensitive environments such as food processing, pharmaceutical and sanitary inspections.
Blacklight: professional detection requires more
Although UV-A light and regular blacklights both fall into the ultraviolet spectrum, there are important differences in their operation and effectiveness, especially when it comes to detecting bacteria and biofilms.
Regular blacklights emit ultraviolet light across a relatively broad spectrum and at a single, specific UV wavelength. This causes many organic substances to fluoresce, causing them to glow. However, bacteria themselves usually don't contain substances that fluoresce under this UV light, so they're not directly visible with a regular blacklight.
What you see glowing under a blacklight are phosphors. Bodily fluids like blood and urine, for example, contain these fluorescent molecules and are made visible under a blacklight. Blacklight can also be used to detect counterfeit banknotes that don't have the fluorescent symbols found on legitimate banknotes.
Other materials on surfaces, such as cleaning agents or minerals, can also fluoresce, giving the impression that bacteria are present when they are not. This makes it difficult to reliably and definitively detect bacterial contamination using a standard blacklight.
Patented detection with Bioglo
The key difference from a standard blacklight is the patented UV technology of the Bioglo detection lamp. It features three distinct sets of high-power (UV) light sources that continuously pulse at different UV wavelengths, enhancing the fluorescence of bacteria. The pulsing pattern, combined with specific and varying UV wavelengths, induces broad-spectrum luminescence in the protein coat of microorganisms. Molecules within the protein coat become excited by the UV waves and emit visible fluorescent light, making microorganisms visible that would otherwise remain invisible to the naked eye under normal conditions.
Moreover, the Bioglo features three adjustable light modes, allowing even fresh or early-stage biofilms and bacterial contaminants to be detected at an early stage. Thanks to this advanced technology, the Bioglo detection lamp provides a reliable and effective method for identifying microbial contamination, which is essential for thorough and professional hygiene monitoring.
The color in which a microorganism fluoresces depends on the composition of the biofilm, the type of bacteria present, and any surrounding organic residues. This color variation not only helps users identify contamination but also provides valuable information about the type of infection. In this way, Bioglo enables a far more precise and visually interpretable inspection than traditional UV or blacklight solutions.
Immediate result!
Real-time detection of bacteria and biofilms
12 powerful UV LED light sources
Patented pulsating LED pattern
