Patent ID: 8613837

Claim:
A method of identifying a microorganism infestation in a papermaking process, the method comprising the steps of: noting a defect on an item associated with a papermaking process, conducting at least one PCR analysis on at least one sample taken from the item, the PCR analysis utilizing primers targeted towards nucleotide sequences known to be associated with at least one type of organism, if a positive result is indicated, determining if a measured concentration of organisms exceeds a pre-determined threshold, if the measured concentration exceeds the threshold at least one additional PCR analysis is done to determine specific organisms that are present in the sample wherein the threshold in a PCR analysis is 10 4 cells per ml or 10 4 cells per gram of the sample, if the measured concentration of each organism detected exceeds said pre-determined threshold then that defect is at least in part due to an infestation of that organism.