Download Bacteria and Germs

Bacteria and Germs
In Our Environment
What are bacteria and germs?
• Ubiquitous-They are everywhere.
• Reproduce very quickly
– Fastest is approximately 15 min/generation
– Evolve very fast
• Antibiotic resistance
Anti-biotics
• Bacteria cells multiply rapidly
• They grow immunity to anti-biotics
– Weak bacteria die
– Strong bacteria survive and multiply
• If the medicine isn’t finished the bacteria cells
will be able to ignore the medicine you take
– Very bad – anti-biotic resistance
• Anti-biotic soaps
– Not good to use all the time due to anti-biotic
resistance
Different kinds of bacteria and germs
• Important ecological roles.
– Decomposers – heterotrophic (can’t make
own food) bacteria
– Symbionts – live with or in other organisms
• Intestinal “flora” – help us digest our food
– Pathogens – microbes that cause disease
• Botulism – improperly canned foods
• E. coli – improperly cooked beef
• Salmonella – improperly cooked chicken
Bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Consider organisms in the
photograph to the left.
These are bacteria,
Pseudomonas
aeruginosa, a human
pathogen that is a
particular problem in the
lungs of cystic fibrosis
patients. A thousand of
the these would fit on the
period at the end of this
sentence.
A white blood cell engulfing
disease-causing bacteria
Bacillus Bacterium
Anthrax Bacteria
E. coli
Salmonella