THE NITROGEN LASER INHIBITS THE GROWTH OF WIDE RANGE OF MICROBES IN VITRO

Abstract

With the report on promising therapeutic effects of nitrogen laser to treat tuberculous lung cavities, studies were carried out to examine the in vitro effects of the laser over a wide range of microbes, namely Candida albicans, Staph. aureus, Esch. coli, Proteus vulgaris, S. typhi and multidrug resistant Klebsiella aerogenes, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Mycobacterium fortuitum. The nitorogen laser with tightly focused, partially focused and unfocused reflected beams with energy densities of 228 J/cm2, 17.1J/cm2 and 5.4 J/cm2, respectively were found to inhibit the growth of the above organisms lawned over solid nutrient media. This is the first report to document the wide spectrum inhibition of microorganisms exposed to nitrogen laser in vitro.