Anaerobic

Slovak term: Slovenský termín

1. Living or taking place in the absence of air or free oxygen.

Explanation

Oxygen is a highly reactive molecule and its chemical reactions often produce by-products toxic to living organisms. Many organisms use oxygen to produce energy via respiration in their metabolic processes and produce chemicals to detoxify these by-products. Bacteria which can metabolize oxygen are called aerobic bacteria or aerobes. Most bacteria cannot and are called anaerobic bacteria or anaerobes.

Example

“In addition to enteric viruses, parasitic protozoa are important disinfection-resistant pathogens. When sewage is the source of these pathogens, the anaerobic spore-forming bacterium Clostridium perfringens appears to be a suitable index for enteric viruses and parasitic protozoa (Payment and Franco 1993)."

References

• Payment, P. and Franco, E. (1993) Clostridium perfringens and somatic coliphages as indicators of the efficiency of drinking water treatment for viruses and protozoan cysts. Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 59: 2418-2424.
• WHO (1992) A guide to the development of on-site sanitation

Links

• WHO — The Health and Environment Lexicon
• WHO (2001) Water Quality: Guidelines, Standards and Health