Use of Gas Chromatography and of a Specific Hydrogen Sensor to Prove the Emission of Hydrogen from Bacterial Cultures of infected Food, Veterinary and Human Medical Specimens such as Lyme-Disease and to Test the Efficacy of Applied Antibiotics

Abstract

Organic and inorganic volatile compounds emitted from bacteria can be analysed by headspace gas chromatography if cultured in closed septum vials. If only a single compound such as hydrogen is monitored, a specific hydrogen sensor is suited as well and both techniques are described and compared on the example of food, household necessities contaminated by bacteria and have also applied for veterinary and human medicine. Several natural products with antibacterial properties have been tested and compared with standard pharmaceutical antibiotics for their antibacterial efficiency. Particularly effective was garlic, already known for its antibacterial efficacy and was then applied for bacterial infected humans. Lyme disease was selected here as representative for diagnosis and therapy of other diseases caused by bacterial infection. Tick borne disease is caused by infection with Borrelia burgdorferi and some other coinfectious bacteria found in ticks and later on, in human blood after they have entered the host and are recognized by their hydrogen emission. Addition of standard or natural antibiotics to the samples in the vials enables to investigate the efficacy of their antibiotic effect. The effect of such antibiotics applied can thus be examined and the progress of an antibiotic therapy can be controlled until its final success is recognized if the hydrogen emission has disappeared. The new method has the unique advantage that the whole procedure is carried out in hermetically closed vials. After analysis, the closed vials with their content can be sterilized at the necessary high temperature and then safely discarded. Thus, the personnel in a lab never meet pathogens and no strict safety precautions are necessary. Particularly the hydrogen sensor is a very cheap device and may thus be attractive for developing countries. Both the technique of gas chromatography and the H₂-sensor approach are perfectly suited for quantitative analysis since the resulting peak area in a chromatogram and the electrical output of an H₂ sensor enables digital data processing and documentation.