Enzymes are very specific in that some break down only fat, while others carbohydrates, proteins, etc. Some 10,000 specific types have so far been isolated and cultivated: more are discovered almost daily. While an enzyme is a non-living molecule, a live bacterium cell can do nothing with its food supply unless first prepared by enzymes for bacterial consumption. In other words , enzymes alone cannot remove the wastes without the help of living bacteria, while the bacteria in turn need help from the enzymes. In this natural process, both enzymes and bacteria are required and have to work together in order to remove the wastes.

“Enzyme” is a common description referring also to the more costly products containing cultured bacteria spores in addition to enzymes. The thought of “Bacteria” is frightening to many people, therefore the word “Enzyme” is normally favored over the more descriptive term, “bacterial/enzyme”. Some products sold contain only free enzymes intended to assist the bacteria already present, while others have only bacterial spores. Any of these products are commonly, and perhaps more politely, referred to as “enzymes” The bacteria growing in your urine contaminated carpet can be pathogenic or not. That is, any of several species can be present and multiplying, some of which may bear disease. All sorts of bacteria and bacterial spores (eggs) are present in nature and in our bodies. Most are friendly toward us while others are not. For example, our eyes would be glued shut with dried mucous were it not for some friendly microbes. Our digestion system could not work without them. Bacteria help make bread, cheese, yogurt and a host of other foods. There are many safe uses and our bodies need them. For the most part, bacteria as a whole have gotten a bum rap since we could not live for very long without them.

Bacteria are a multitude of microscopic simple, single-cell life forms called, singularly, bacterium. Bacteria grow when a bacterium matures, dividing into two identical “sister’ cells. Growing in “colonies”, countless numbers of bacteria are required to remove any amount of organic wastes. They must multiply continuously and extremely vast numbers are essential.

To give you some idea, magnification 30,000 times is required to view a single bacterium. “Tiny” is non-descriptive. In this microscopic world an average puddle of urine is about the same size as the Atlantic Ocean for you and I. Put in this perspective, how many of us do you think it would take to swallow the Atlantic Ocean (and vaporize the results)? Try to estimate the number of people it would require! On the upside, a bacterium can mature and divide very quickly, and Bacterial activity produces needed enzymes in the process.


SEWER BACTERIA
Bacteria approved for your purposes, the Bacillus Subtilus, is essentially a sewer bacterium. It was selected because it only feeds on decay and is considered “non-opportunistic” - “Friendly”, if you will. All bacterial/enzyme products licensed for restoration work contain strains of this sub-species. Safe but very sensitive and vulnerable, Bacillus Subtilus cultures grow well only under ideal conditions. Moreover, the bacteria have high moisture requirements and will not survive unless submerged in a flooded environment - a very definite drawback for any application outside a sewer or the laboratory.