To ensure that the
pellets were infected, a sample of 5 pellets from each
level of bacteria was broken up into 9 ml of sterile PBS
and serial 10-fold dilution’s were performed. A 100 μl
sample from a dilution level that would have approximated
to a bacterial level of 102 was placed onto blood
agar (BA, Oxoid) supplemented with 5% sheep’s blood
and grown for 24 h to ensure that the bacteria were viable
and at the desired level.