Objective It is necessary to evaluate the harmful or useful effects of electromagnetic waves on living organisms and determine the threshold of these radiations. In this research, the effect of magnetic fields on the growth of gram-positive ( Staphylococcus aureus ) and gram-negative ( Escherichia coli ) bacteria has been evaluated.
Results In Gram-negative bacteria such as E. coli in both magnetic fields 1mT and 2mT at different frequencies, an additive effect was seen on the growth of bacteria. When the frequency increased the trend of increasing bacterial growth, slowed. In Gram-positive bacteria such as Staphylococcus, this effect was less. In 1mT magnetic field, the growth of bacteria was seen but the 2mT field was virtually ineffective and the differences between two groups at different frequencies were not significant. Also, significant changes didn't observe with increasing frequency. Study of bacterial growth in terms of frequency in both case and control groups showed an increasing trend. With increasing frequency from 50 Hz to 150Hz significantly increased the rate of bacterial growth and the growth in the higher frequencies more than lower frequencies. Magnetic field had increment effect on the growth of bacteria. This effect was greater on gram-negative than on gram-positive.