LumpySpace
New_Member
Thank you!The sterility tests used most commonly (and that have produced recent fails) are total aerobic microbial count (TAMC) and total yeast and mold count (TYMC). Many of the recent arguments around sterility have been based on the idea that a "Pass" on these tests does not guarantee a 'sterile' product; with that said, there is no argument that a "Fail" means it's not sterile.
There were a string of recent tirz Fails across multiple vendors, which were pretty surprising and have led to speculation it was perhaps contamination of the raws which could have been sourced from the same vendor. No way to know that, though, it's just speculation.
You are most likely right that researchers have been using non-sterile peps in many instances without knowing; a small amount of bacteria / yeast / mold is probably going to be easily destroyed by our immune system, though I certainly wouldn't want to be injecting myself with it consistently over time.
So my understanding at this point that this a quasi-qualitative/quantitative test for non-specific microorganisms. However, since it doesn't tell you what type of microorganism present I do not quite see value in it. What is the threshold? Who determines it? What is an acceptable number and what is not, especially, not knowing what exactly one is dealing with.
It just seems like a total fad to me that makes additional revenue for the testing companies. I see no value in it especially since majority of people here know pretty well that paying so little for the GLPs comes with a certain risk. I would be more concerned if there was a specific microorganism they were testing these for, amount of which in the sample would cause a trip to an emergency room.
Just my 2 cents. Thanks again though!