Diversity of heterotrophic bacteria isolated from biofilm samples and cell surface hydrophobicity

摘要

Biofilm formation is a well known phenomenon in the medical and health care fields. Biofilm infection has recently attained a greater importance as an intractable infectious disease since the number of persons easily infected is rising as the percentage of the elderly population increases (Costerton et al., 1999). The environmental hygienic equipment and paper manufacturing industries call this phenomenon slime, and reportedly have considerable difficulty in preventing it (Blanco et al., 1997; Vaisanen et al., 1994). Bio-films exist in our life environment such as the kitchen and bathroom, and are typically described as 'slimy' or 'clammy.'