CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Every day, we are exposed to millions of harmful bacteria that can cause

severe diseases. Nowadays, many diseases are occurring in the whole nation

and more people or even animals and plants are being affected by these

diseases. Bacteria can be helpful and disaster to other living things, but mostly

bacteria is a disaster to people, animals, and plants. E. coli (Escherichia coli) are

one of the common bacteria that cause a lot of diseases. E. coli are commonly

found in some contaminated foods and drinks, such as raw or uncooked ground

meat products and also in raw milk. This type of bacteria is rapidly increasing and

can harm many living things. Hence, this research is created to find out if the

blue LED light can reduce the growth of E. coli (Escherichia coli).

CNN Library (2019) reported that there is an outbreak of E. coli

(Escherichia coli) in the United States. There are many shears of the E. coli

(Escherichia coli). Most of them are harmless and it is commonly found and live

in the intestines of healthy humans and animals. And other stains of E. coli

(Escherichia coli) cause disease by producing the toxins called “Shiga toxin-

producing” E. coli (STEC). This toxin is commonly found in the United States.

There many symptoms of this toxin infection such as stomach cramp, diarrhea

and vomiting. In this case, people of all ages can be infected, but young children

and the elderly are more likely to develop severe symptoms. It is estimated that
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more than 265,000 STEC infections occur each year in the United States. And it

causes more that 36% of these infections.

Furthermore, SGS PH (2017) stated that it has been reported by the

World Health Organization (WHO) at least 600 million people suffer from different

illness each year. Also the Department of Health (DOH) stated that, in the

Philippines alone. It has been estimated that over 32,000 cases of food and

waterborne disease have been recorded as of September in 2017.

The E. coli (Escherichia coli) outbreak in spinach in United States and

Canada killed three (3) people and sickened more than 200 across the two

countries (Palmquist, 2017). Based on the data of the Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention, it’s is estimated that there are 40,000 cases of

salmonellosis occur each year in the United States, and the caused the death of

400 people. Moreover, about 70,000 E. coli (Escherichia coli) are reported each

year, killing dozens of people.

In addition, the public were warned by the Zamboanga City Health Office

against swimming or going for a picnic in some of the public beaches around the

area due to high levels of fecal coliform. There are high numbers registered of E.

coli (Escherichia coli), particularly in Cawa-Cawa and Caragasan public beaches.

Due to the high numbers of E. coli (Escherichia coli), it exceeded the standard

levels set by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), it

is according to an investigation by the Task Force Aplaya. Because of the

Coliform, it may cause typhoid fever, dysentery, cholera, and gastroenteritis.

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After the observation of those public beaches from October to September 2016, it

exceeded more than the DENR standards and the City Health Officer Rodelin

Agbulos has declared the water in the beaches has become unsafe for use such

as swimming (Martina, 2017).

Blue LED lights emits 85% of heat but high energy, while the other lights,

it emits 12% of heat and lesser energy. All LED Lights generates high heat but

not high energy as the Blue LED light. High heat can help to kill the E. coli

(Escherichia coli). And also the require heat temperature for the E. coli

(Escherichia coli) to go grow is 20 to 40 degrees Celsius. With this Blue LED

light, the growth of E. coli (Escherichia coli) will be reduce or even kill it. Overall,

the lower heat generated by LED helps to reduce and kill the bacteria, second to

UVC light that is proven to kill bacteria. It is part of the ultraviolet light spectrum

and also emits high frequency of UV light that makes it harmful to bacteria,

viruses, mold and other pathogens (Light-source, 2015).

Blue LED light is very harmful and powerful to human eyes, because Blue

lights Exposure can increase the risk of muscular degeneration. It penetrates the

retina that can damage the light-sensitive cells (Heiting, 2016).

Moreover, there is a common way to kill E. coli (Escherichia coli) and

other bacteria that can make you sick, which is killing it with a high temperature.

E. coli (Escherichia coli) can be destroyed at about 160 degree Fahrenheit

(Hirsch, 2019).
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According to Mitra et al. (2016), sugar also helps to kill E. coli (Escherichia

coli) in drinking water. Their method was to put paper strips laced with sugar into

the drinking water. And based on their research, their methodology could be the

sweetest solution so far to kill E. coli (Escherichia coli) in contaminated water.

DipTreat is the latest innovation by the researchers. DipTreat it’s an innovation

solution for water treatment. And made of paper and have non-toxic antimicrobial

reagent. It is also the most eco-friendly sustainable solution for killing E. coli

(Escherichia coli) in contaminated water. Previously, they discovered new ways

to detect E. coli (Escherichia coli) in contaminated water using Mobile Water Kit.

With this, the researchers will make this study with the aim of determining

the effectiveness of utilizing Blue LED Light as growth reduction of E. coli

(Escherichia coli). The Effectiveness will be test in the laboratory of Department

of Science and Technology (DOST). Moreover, this study also aims to determine

if there is no significant difference among the laboratory test of the treatments [T1

(455 nm), T2 (465 nm), T3 (475 nm)] of Blue LED light as a growth reduction of

E. coli (Escherichia coli).

Theoretical Framework

The E. coli (Escherichia coli) can grow through the help of a particular

heat temperature measurement. That’s why E. coli (Escherichia coli) is one of the

common bacteria existing in our surroundings, because of heat temperature that

is being generated. Also through the high heat temperature, it can kill the E. coli

(Escherichia coli). Just like in the foods that we eat every day. Through the food
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before eating can help to kill the E. coli (Escherichia coli) that can cause severe

diseases.

Purdue University (2013) found a way to kill powerful and harmful bacteria

from the exposed packaged liquids, fruits and vegetables. Through electric field

or electrifying the food that is contaminated with E. coli (Escherichia coli) for just

minutes might eliminate all the traces of bacteria on foods.

According to Keener et al. (2013) from Purdue University, he developed a

new way to kill harmful bacteria such as E. coli (Escherichia coli) and Salmonella

that can contaminate foods and cause severe illness or even death. His

procedure or methods uses electricity: two (2) high voltage and low-watt coils on

the outside of the sealed food packages to generate plasma from atmospheric

gases inside the food package In addition, keener and other researchers from

the Dublin Institute of Technology demonstrated that sealed-package

atmospheric plasma works well to eliminate or reduce the growth of E. coli

(Escherichia coli). In the experiments, it shows that bacteria on surfaces were

eliminated with 20 seconds of treatment and 24 hours of exposure to the gases it

creates.

The aims of the researchers of this proven study were to investigate the

antimicrobial capacity of apple cider vinegar (ACV) as an alternative way to

eliminate E. coli (Escherichia coli) without the use of heat temperature. Apple

Cider Vinegar (ACV) is made from cider that has undergone acetous

bioconversion and has relatively low acidity. ACV also contains flavonoids,
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polyphenols, organic acids, vitamins and minerals. According to their research

and investigation, utilizing organic acid as nutritional supplements has been

considered as more safe and can kill harmful intestinal bacteria such as E. coli

(Escherichia coli). After the experiment is done, the results shows that Apple

Cider Vinegar (ACV) successfully eliminate or stop the growth of the E.coli

(Escherichia coli) (Yagnik et al. 2018).

Furthermore, investigators from the Center for Radiological Research at

Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC) found a new and affordable

cost solution to eliminate viruses that is carried by the air in indoor public spaces.

The researchers found that continuous low doses of far Ultraviolet light can

eliminate bacteria and viruses without harming human tissues. UVC light

contains a wavelength of between 200 to 400 nanometer (nm), the wavelength is

highly effective in eliminating bacteria such as E. coli (Escherichia coli) and

viruses by destroying the molecular bonds that hold their DNA together (Brenner

et al., 2018).

In addition, A Rutgers-led team has invented an economical, functional

way to kill bacteria and clean surfaces with devices made of paper. They found

out that by applying high voltage to stacked sheets of metallized paper, they

were able to generate plasma, which is the combination of heat, ozone and

ultraviolet radiation that eliminate microbes. This was invented because of the

devastating outbreak of Ebola virus in 2014. The invention consists of paper with

thin layers of aluminum and honeycomb patterns that serve as electrodes to

produce plasma that will eliminate bacteria. After they tested the invention, the
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results showed that paper-based sanitizers killed more than 99.9% of E. coli

(Escherichia coli) bacteria cells (Rutgers University, 2017).

Conceptual Framework

INDEPENDENT VARIABLE DEPENDENT VARIABLE

Blue LED Lights

 T1 (455 nm) Growth Reduction of E. coli

 T2 (465 nm) (Escherichia coli)

 T3 (475 nm)

Figure 1

Conceptual Paradigm of the Study

Figure 1 shows the relationship between the independent variable and the

dependent variable. The independent variable is the Blue LED lights. The study

has three treatments; treatment 1 Blue LED light as a growth reduction of E. coli

(Escherichia coli) has 455 Nanometer. Treatment 2 Blue LED light as a growth

reduction of E. coli (Escherichia coli) has 465 Nanometer. For the last treatment,

which is treatment 3 Blue LED light as a growth reduction of E. coli (Escherichia

coli) has 475 Nanometer. For the dependent variable, the researchers want to

determine the effectivity of Blue LED light in the growth reduction of E. coli

(Escherichia coli).
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Statement of the Problem

This research seeks to determine the effectivity of Blue LED light for

growth of E. coli (Escherichia coli). Specifically, it seeks to answer the following

questions:

1. What is the growth of E. coli (Escherichia coli) in each treatment [T1 (455

nm), T2 (465 nm), T3 (475 nm)] of Blue LED lights as a growth reduction

of E. coli (Escherichia coli)?

2. Which among the treatments [T1 (455 nm), T2 (465 nm), T3 (475 nm)] of

Blue LED lights has more effective in the growth reduction of E. coli

(Escherichia coli)?

3. Is there a significant difference among the laboratory test of the treatments

[T1 (455 nm), T2 (465 nm), T3 (475 nm)] of Blue LED lights as a growth

reduction of E. coli (Escherichia coli)?

Hypotheses

Ha. There is a significant difference among the laboratory test of the treatments

[T1 (455 nm), T2 (465 nm), T3 (475 nm)] of Blue LED light as a growth reduction

of E. coli (Escherichia coli).

Ho. There is no significant difference among the laboratory test of the treatments

[T1 (455 nm), T2 (465 nm), T3 (475 nm)] of Blue LED light as a growth reduction

of E. coli (Escherichia coli).

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Significance of the Study

This study seeks to determine the effectivity of utilizing Blue LED light as a

growth reduction of E. coli (Escherichia coli). Specifically, the following are some

of the potential beneficiaries of the study:

For the Environment, this study would be a great contribution to the

environment because E. coli (Escherichia coli) are the most highly studied

microorganism. Advanced knowledge of its protein expression mechanism

makes it simpler to use for experiment where expression of foreign proteins and

selection of recombinants is essential.

For the Consumers, this study would help consumers to provide

knowledge about E. coli (Escherichia coli) and how to lessen the diseases that is

cause by E. coli (Escherichia coli).

For the Community, this study would provide new information essential

for the community and to the agencies that provides food product safety (Bureau

of Agricultural Research) and agencies that studies microorganisms (Philippine

National Collection of Microorganisms (PNCM) to utilize Blue LED light as a

growth reduction of E. coli (Escherichia coli).

For the Future Researchers, this study would be a useful reference and

guide for the researchers who plan to make any related study.
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Scope and Delimitation

The scope of this study will be delimited and conducted at the Physical

Science Laboratory of the Unversidad de Zamboanga Senior Highschool, UZ,

Quadrangle, J.S Alano Street, Zamboanga City. The Laboratory Test will be

conducted at Department of Science and Technology (DOST) - Region IX, Pettit

Barracks, Zamboanga City, Zamboanga Del Sur.

The researchers will be limited only for the use of Blue LED light in each

treatment, which has 3 replicates in each treatment [T1 (455 nm), T2 (465 nm),

T3 (475 nm)]. This will be used as a treatment for the growth reduction of E. coli

(Escherichia coli). Only nine (9) E. coli (Escherichia coli) and nine (9) Blue LED

lights are going to be used in the experiment. The Objective of this study is only

limited to the laboratory test of E. coli (Escherichia coli) after the experiment and

to see the effectiveness of Blue LED light to the growth of E. coli (Escherichia

coli).
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Definition of Terms

The following terms will be defined operationally:

E. coli (Escherichia coli) – This term refers to the subject that will be using

during the experiment and test of the growth, to know the result if the

independent variable is effective as a growth reduction to E. coli (Escherichia

coli).

Blue LED Light – This term refers to the independent variable with different heat

temperature (Nanometer) in each treatment. It will be used to reduce the growth

of the subject.

DipTreat – This term refers to the procedure that the researchers mitra et al.

(2016) to solve the outbreak of E. coli (Escherichia coli). DipTreat is a solution for

water treatment, particularly.

Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) – This term refers to the variable of (Yagnik, 2018)

to eliminate the E. coli (Escherichia coli). This is made from organic acids that

can be found in our surroundings.

Shiga Toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) – This term refers to the strain of E. coli

(Escherichia coli) that is very dangerous and can cause severe foodborne

disease and it can also be transmitted to humans because of the consumption of

foods.