How rapid can the general bacteria multiply in the space of a few hours?

Question

I mean General Bacteria as the bacteria most commonly found on your hands, bench tops etc.

Answer 1

The most common bacteria found on people´s skin are Staphylococous saprophticus, Staphylococous epidermis and Staphylococcus aureus. This bacterium comes from the nostrils of almost all people and is usually completely harmless. Problems occur when the skin is broken and the bacteria gains entry and produces a variety of toxins that lead to different diseases. The doubling time (DM) of S. aureus is 60min on the human skin, but it can be affected by temperature and air pressure (DM at 37C is 24 min!)

There are other bacteria Escherichia coli, Klebsiella and Enterocci which are all found in human intestines and digestive tracts. Again, their growing rate will depend on external factors, for example E: coli doubles once every 20min when grown at the optimal temperature of 37C

Answer 2

That type of bacteria generally does not multiply very fast. How fast it CAN multiply is very different than how fast it DOES multiply. For instance, if grown in a petri plate at optimal temperature, it will multiply rapidly. If you are talking just on the surface of a bench or skin, where it is most commonly found, it does not multiply very fast at all because the temperature, nutrients and moisture is not sufficient for multiplying in most cases. Where moisture is present and the temperature is anywhere from 75-95 degrees Farenheit, these bacteria will multiply fairly rapidly, so that somewhere around 4 hours, untreated will greatly increase the risk of infection from them.

Answer 3

It depends a lot but e.coli. (a fairly typical microbe) has a doubling time of 40 minutes under perfect growth conditions. Some bacteria grow faster and most grow slower. In addition your skin is not a very good place for bacteria to grow on. Generally doubling once every 90min its a good ball park number.

I sugest you use the equation below:
P=Ne^(RT)
p=Number of bac. at time T
n=Intail number
e=natural constant
r=the rate in this case 1/90min
t= time in minutes

In terms of spreading most microbes like to form colonies around the initial site of infection so even though they grow fast then need something so spread them around a resource poor environment. So ultimately the question becomes how fast did you spread them.

Answer 4

Under Perfect coniditions ecoli has a doubling time of 20 mins