Such medical articles offer the advantage of preventing or inhibiting infection while avoiding undesirable adverse reactions to chlorhexidine by individuals that may have sensitivity to chlorhexidine. The invention relates to the nitrification of wastewater and identification of microorganisms capable of participating in this process. Specifically, the invention provides a consortium of microorganisms capable of nitrite oxidation in wastewater, which consortium is enriched in members of the Nitrospira phylum. The invention also provides oligonucleotide primers and probes for the amplification or detection of Nitrospira DNA, kits comprising the primers and probes, and methods of detection and quantitating Nitrospira species in a sample. A new method of treating water to remove perchlorate contaminant is disclosed.
Water is fed through a filter bed containing perchlorate-reducing microorganisms.
The microorganisms reduce the perchlorate, thereby decontaminating the water. An oxidizable substrate serves as an electron donor to the microorganisms. The invention results in safe to undetectable levels of perchlorate in the treated water. A method for inhibiting the growth of microorganisms in an aqueous medium comprises contacting the aqueous medium with a permeable body comprising material which interacts with the microorganisms. Such interaction involves a change in the chemical structure of the material resulting from the action of one or more of the microorganisms.