title: Effect of refrigeration on microbial growth in the Blairex Water Purifier.
abstract: The Blairex Water Purifier is designed to make tap water into purified water that can be used to make saline solution for soft contact lens disinfection and rinsing. The micropore filters of eight Purifiers were perforated to allow a controlled contamination by either Pseudomonas aeruginosa or Serratia marcescens. The bacterial growth was evaluated in these altered Blairex Water Purifiers under refrigerated and unrefrigerated conditions. Those Purifiers that were refrigerated showed significantly less bacterial growth than those Purifiers that were kept at room temperature between samplings. Our findings imply that soft contact lens wearers may reduce the level of microbial growth in undamaged Purifiers by refrigerating the Purifiers between uses.
mesh_terms: D003263:Contact Lenses, Hydrophilic; D004203:Disinfection / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004866:Equipment Contamination; D011550:Pseudomonas aeruginosa / Q000254:growth & development*; D012034:Refrigeration; D012706:Serratia marcescens / Q000254:growth & development*; D013242:Sterilization / Q000295:instrumentation*; D013696:Temperature