ABSTRACT
Biological pollutants are substances in our environment which come from living organisms. These include bacteria, viruses, fungi, pollen, dust mites, insects, animal dander, molds, and mildew. The measurement of live organisms is challenging because they continuously undergo cycles of reproduction and death. The two general analytical approaches are based on microbiology and molecular biology. After Schematic illustration of membrane filtration, the membrane is placed on a selective medium and incubated at certain temperature for few hours to resuscitate injured or stressed bacteria. A fluorescence microscope is an optical microscope which uses the phenomena of fluorescence and phosphorescence instead of, or in addition to, reflection and absorption. Until recently, microbial communities present in natural environments were studied using conventional culture-based optical microscopic measurements. Molecular techniques are used to detect pathogenic viruses, bacteria, and protozoa by amplifying a single or few copies of a DNA. In general, polymerase chain reaction can be extensively modified to perform a wide array of genetic manipulations.
