K Shih

Chloramine (which occurs widely as a by-product of sanitary chlorination of water supplies) is shown to be a weak mutagen, when reversion of trpC to trpC in Bacillus subtilis is used as an assay. Some DNA-repair mutants appear to be more sensitive to chloramine, suggesting the involvement of DNA targets in bactericide. The influence of plating media on survival of cells treated with chloramine suggests a bacterial repair system acting upon potentially lethal lesions induced by chloramine.

The lesions induced in Bacillus subtilis deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) after treating bacterial cells (in vivo) and bacterial DNA (in vitro) with chloramine were studied biologically and physically. Single-strand breaks and a few double-strand scissions (at higher chloramine doses) accompanied loss of DNA-transforming activity in both kinds of treatments. Chloramine was about three times more efficient in vitro than in vivo in inducing DNA single-strand breaks. DNA was slowly chlorinated; the subsequent efficiency of producing DNA breaks was high. Chlorination of cells also reduced activity of endonucleases in cells; however, chlorinated DNA of both treatments was sensitized to cleavage by endonucleases. The procedure of extracting DNA from cells treated with chloramine induced further DNA degradation. Both treatments introduced a small fraction of alkali-sensitive lesions in DNA. DNA chlorinated in vitro showed further reduction in transforming activity as well as further degradation after incubation at 50 C for 5 h whereas DNA extracted from chloramine-treated cells did not show such a heat sensitivity.

The microbial flora and fauna of 25 high water content nonionic "soft" contact lenses worn by patients on an extended wear basis, 4 hand-cleaned patient-worn lenses, and 4 improperly maintained lenses were compared. Almost all the patient-worn lenses (24 of 25) were free of viable microorganisms, whereas all the hand-cleaned lenses (4 of 4) were contaminated with different microorganisms. This study showed that hand contact is a major source of microbial contamination of a lens and that usually the hand-transported microorganisms do not survive permanently on the lens in a healthy, normal eye. Improperly maintained lenses demonstrated pathogenic microbial associations. Proof of the eye's potent antimicrobial environment was demonstrated. Thus, microorganism-lens associations are largely due to lens handling and inappropriate maintenance regimens. Typically there are few microorganisms on an extended wear soft lens while it is being worn.

Two sources of ultraviolet (UV) radiation with peak wavelengths in the UV-C or UV-B ranges were compared for their ability to sterilize contact lenses infected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Acanthamoeba castellani, Candida albicans, and Aspergillus niger. Also examined was the effect of prolonged UV light exposure on soft and rigid gas permeable (RGP) contact lenses. The UV-C lamp (253.7 nm, 250 mW/cm2 at 1 cm) was germicidal for all organisms within 20 minutes but caused destruction of the soft lens polymers within 6 hours of cumulative exposure. UV-C caused damage to RGP lenses in less than 100 hours. The UV-B lamp (290-310 nm, 500 mW/cm2 at 1 cm) was germicidal for all organisms tested (except Aspergillus) with a 180-minute exposure and caused less severe changes in the soft lens polymers than did the UV-C lamp, although cumulative exposure of 300 hours did substantially weaken the soft lens material. RGP materials were minimally affected by exposure to 300 hours of UV-B. Ultraviolet light is an effective germicidal agent but is injurious to soft lens polymers; its possible utility in the sterilization of RGP lenses and lens cases deserves further study.