If a patient has a bacterial load of 1,000,000 CFU/mL and a treatment reduces it by 99.9%, what is the remaining bacterial load?
Correct Answer: 1000 CFU/mL
- Step 1: Understand that CFU/mL stands for 'colony-forming units per milliliter', which is a way to measure the number of bacteria.
- Step 2: Identify the initial bacterial load, which is 1,000,000 CFU/mL.
- Step 3: Recognize that a reduction of 99.9% means that only 0.1% of the original bacterial load will remain.
- Step 4: Calculate 0.1% of 1,000,000 CFU/mL. To do this, multiply 1,000,000 by 0.001 (which is 0.1% in decimal form).
- Step 5: Perform the multiplication: 1,000,000 * 0.001 = 1,000.
- Step 6: Conclude that the remaining bacterial load after the treatment is 1,000 CFU/mL.
- Percentage Reduction – Understanding how to calculate the remaining quantity after a percentage reduction.
- Bacterial Load Calculation – Applying mathematical operations to determine the remaining bacterial load in a given volume.
