The Microbiology Teacher

Ternyata, kasus bakteri Enterobacter sakazakii dalam susu formula terus berlanjut sampai ke tingkat Mahkamah Agung. Sebagai anggota komunitas akademik, saya menyayangkan kenapa kasus ini tidak ditangani dengan baik saat gugatan terhadap IPB, BPOM, dan Depkes  diajukan, sehingga harus sampai ke tingkat kasasi yang kemudian diterima oleh Mahkamah Agung.

Akibatnya, sekarang, IPB berada dalam posisi melawan hukum. Saya tidak yakin apa yang akan terjadi secara hukum, akan tetapi secara sosial, saya melihat masyarakat kehilangan kepercayaan terhadap dunia akademik yang dianggap berkonspirasi untuk menutupi informasi penting tentang kondisi dunia industri

Saya coba serta kutipan sebuah email dari rekan saya di IPB tentang kasus Enterobacter sakazakii:

Pengambilan sampel untuk penelitian ini dilakukan tahun 2004 dan risetnya sendiri dilakukan tahun 2004 dan 2005 sebagai kerjasama Jerman-Indonesia yang dipublikasikan di Journal Of Food Protection V0l 69 N0 12, 2006, Pages 3013-3017 di bawah judul Enterobacteriaceae in Dehydrated Powdered Infant Formula Manufactured in Indonesia and Malaysia. Jadi data yang positif dan negatif yang disajikan pada tabel di di jurnal ini menurut saya bukanlah “lontaran informasi”, tetapi penyajian data ilmiah.

Isolat dari hasil penelitian di ataslah yang dites lebih lanjut dengan menggunakan mencit dan diseminarkan pada seminar terbuka hibah bersaing di tahun 2008. Jadi yang diujikan pada penelitian ini adalah isolat yang diisolasi dari saampel yang dibeli pada tahun 2004-2005. Perlu diketahui, pada tahun ini tema ini masih emerging dan belum ada satu negara pun yang memiliki aturan tentang ini. WHO sendiri baru mengeluarkan guideline pada tahun 2008.

Berdasarkan hasil penelitian ini peneliti diundang oleh Badan POM pada tahun 2006-2007 dan BPOM telah menindak lanjutinya dalam bentuk pengendalian yang lebih ketat terhadap cemaran dan regulasi khusus pada tahun 2009. Dengan kata lain tanggung jawab peneliti yang melakukan hazard identification telah ditransfer ke ranah policy atau risk management jika kita tinjau dalam kerangka berpikir risk analysis in food safety. Jadi justru sebelum konsumen ribut, peneliti sudah menjalankan perannya dalam mengawal kesehatan massyarakat. Penelitian lebih lanjut menunjukkan bahwa praktek di rumah tangga yang baik (suhu air di atas 70 derajat) cukup untuk membunuh mikroba ini.

Alhasil tidak ditemukan lagi cemaran ini pada tahun 2009 dan 2010 sebagaimana yang telah dirilis oleh BPOM. Ini adalah contoh konkrit bagaimana penelitian berkontribusi positif untuk pengaturan.

Saya pikir informasi ini harus sampai ke masyarakat, sehingga pada saat diumumkan sesuai dengan amar putusan MA mereka sudah lebih pandai. Sekarang kita tinggal melakukan hitung-hitungan antara ancaman terhadap kesehatan karena sakazakii (yang notabene setelah tahun 2009 sudah tidak ada lagi berdasarkan surveillance BPOM) dengan kehebohan yang mungkin terjadi dari penyebutan merek tersebut. Semoga bermanfaat.

Jadi bagaimana kita harus bersikap? Begini, saat ini, standar-standar yang ditetapkan oleh BPOM maupun Depkes, sudah sangat ketat dan BPOM sebagai agen berwenang juga sudah mengadakan surveillance.  Tentu saja bahaya kontaminasi selalu ada, tapi tidak selalu dari bahan baku susu. Bisa saja dari air yang digunakan, atau wadah botol yang tidak bersih. Oleh karena itu, selalu perhatikan kebersihan dalam pengolahan makanan, terutama apabila menyangkut makanan bayi, yang sistem kekebalan tubuhnya belum sekuat orang dewasa.

Senang makan seafood? Coba nonton TEDTalks ini dan renungkan!

atau dalam bahasa Indonesia: Halusinasi oke aja loh!

An article in the  latest New York Times  discussed the latest developments of psychedelic science and how tightly regulated use of hallucinogens may help in treatments of mental disorders.

What is psychedelic science?

Psychedelic science studies active ingredients that cause hallucinations. Why is microbiology involved? Well this particular article talked about a substance, psilocybin, that is produced by a basidiomycete fungi (Mushroom). Quoting the paper:

Researchers from around the world are gathering this week in San Jose, Calif., for the largest conference on psychedelic science held in the United States in four decades. They plan to discuss studies of psilocybin and other psychedelics for treating depression in cancer patients, obsessive-compulsive disorder, end-of-life anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and addiction to drugs or alcohol.

The results so far are encouraging but also preliminary, and researchers caution against reading too much into these small-scale studies. They do not want to repeat the mistakes of the 1960s, when some scientists-turned-evangelists exaggerated their understanding of the drugs’ risks and benefits.

For my Indonesian readers, the 1960s marked an era where a lot of (American) people used mushrooms as a psychotrophic drug to get “high”. People experience hallucinations ( illusory perception; a common symptom of severe mental disorder).

Now there are studies that show how psychedelics like psilocybin can have positive effects on the user. Griffiths et al. (2008) reported that patients treated with psilocybin under supportive conditions described their experience as “personally meaningful” and “spiritually significant” in their lives.Other studies have followed.

I think what is interesting is the fact that perceptions caused by hallucination doesn’t have a negative effect afterwards. However this study didn’t mention any addiction issues that could be caused by use of this hallucinogen. The full article by Griffiths et al can be found here.

An article published in the latest edition of Nature, widely quoted by various news media,   has given me a new reason to love microbiology even more. The main findings suggest that the bacteria in the food we eat (in this case, sushi) may play an important role  in providing the gut microorganisms with enhanced capabilities for food digestion. This accomplished through horizontal gene transfer, a mechanism especially well documented in prokaryotes. You are what you eat, indeed.

What does this mean for us? Well, this is a message to continuously maintain a high level of biodiversity in the environment because it is more than likely providing us with many benefits including for our health.

For a link to the abstract of the article please click here. For the full article you need to pay for access. If you don’t feel like reading the scientific article, here are some articles:

1. BBC news: Sushi may ‘transfer genes’ to gut
   
2. The Guardian: Sushi munching bacteria found in the guts of Japanese people
3. The Scientist.com: Gut bacteria are what we eat
   

So let’s hit those sushi bars this weekend!

This semester I am teaching the elective course (kuliah pilihan) Environmental Microbiology (BIO 41730). The course deals with microbes in the natural environment.

We often think of microbes in the laboratory environment, the “pure culture” concept, meaning that we usually work with only one microbial culture in a “pure” form, not mixed with other microbial cultures.

In nature, microbes exist together with other organisms as part of an ecosystem. The abiotic factors determine They occupy a niche in the ecosystem, mostly as decomposers of organic matter or they could also be producers.

It is safe to say that microbes can be found everywhere: on the ground, in the water and even in the air we breathe. However, when we speak of a microbe’s natural habitats, it is slightly different. The atmosphere is not a natural habitat for microbes.

More and more research in microbial diversity nowadays come up with a variety of microbial habitats. What makes it more interesting is that exploration of microbial habitats are not limited to the terrestrial and aquatic habitats inhabited by other living organisms, they now go and beyond what is considered a “usual” environment. It does seem like “the sky is the limit” for microbial habitats. To date, microbes have been found to survive in habitats like volcano craters, hot water springs, hydrothermal vents and  arctic glaciers. Some extreme views are even entertaining the thought that maybe, just maybe, microbes can be found on other planets than the Earth, i.e, the planet Mars.

So is it possible that the microbes on earth have ‘relatives’ on other planets?

We interrupt microbiology teaching for this report: I was driving just outside campus when the car in front of me suddenly hit the brakes. Luckily I managed to brake in time. I was so annoyed but then I saw the passengers of the car look to their right so I followed the direction of their gazes and saw this beautiful biawak run up the small hill formed by the tracks. No wonder the traffic stopped.

It was about 1,5 meters long not too big. But it was impressive to watch.

However, that leads to the question. Why did the Biawak cross the road?

Answer: because its habitat on campus is being cleared for more campus development 🙁 Not to come down too hard on the rector, because UI’s conservation area is already marked. The area that’s being cleared is the ‘entrepreneuring area’. It’s said to become a gasoline/petrol station.

Hmmm… if only the biawak stayed in the conservation area, it would still be on campus.