Category Kids Queries

Your gut reaction might be to wrinkle your nose at the thought of bacteria inside your guts, but it turns out that many so-called good bacteria are essential to your health, the survival of life on Earth, and the making of tasty foods. Behold the benefits of our microscopic allies…

Health Boosting: Your body’s microbes support your immune system, which fights sickness.

Plant Feeding: Blue-green algae and other types of bacteria convert the nitrogen in the air into compounds plants can use.

Food Processing: Microbes in our innards play a huge role in the digestive process, helping us absorb nutrients and vitamins from our food.

Food Making: Bacteria are a vital ingredient in the process of turning milk into yogurt and tasty cheeses. The holes in Swiss cheese are created by carbon dioxide bubbles exhaled by bacteria during the cheese-making process.

Planet Cleaning: Bacteria break down dead animals and plants, which ‘’decompose’’ into nutrients for the living.

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Your body is built of trillions of itty-bitty living blobs, called cells, that work together to make you. But for every cell you call your own, ten foreign bacteria cluster around or near it. You’re microbe metropolis! Scientists call these communities of foreign bacteria your body’s ‘’flora,’’ and no two people host the same mix of microorganisms. In fact, scientists are beginning to think of your flora as just another organ.

The human body may contain around 10 times fewer bacteria than previously thought, with the average person being made up of roughly equal numbers of body cells and microbes. This information goes against the long-standing assumption that each living person is composed of around 10 times more bacteria than human cells, exposing this as something of a myth.

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Unlike viruses, bacteria are living single-celled organisms that can reproduce both outside and inside the body. Like all living things, bacteria create waste – microscopic poops that can act as a poison inside the host. You can blame sore throats, ear infections, and tooth-tartar buildup on bacteria. One of the most famous bacteria is Escherichia coli. This rod-shaped microbe lives deep in your intestines, the body’s busiest bacterial neighborhood. Harmful ones make you puke for days. Helpful E. coli strains produce an important victim. That’s right – some bacteria are actually good for you!

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This ghastly germ group includes itty-bitty insert larvae, amoebas, and one-celled organisms called protozoa that live in nasty food, damp soil, or dirty water. Parasites depend on a living host for their survival. They sneak into our bodies in tainted water and food, causing us all sorts of gastro-intestinal gripes: diarrhea, vomiting, upset stomachs, and worse. Malaria – a common diseases that causes chills, shaking, and fevers – is spread by a parasite passed in mosquito bites. These life-sucking relationships are often the stuff of nightmares.

Parasites normally enter the body through the skin or mouth. Close contact with pets can lead to parasite infestation as dogs and cats are host to many parasites.

Other risks that can lead people to acquire parasites are walking with barefeet, inadequate disposal of feces, lack of hygiene, and close contact with someone carrying specific parasites, and eating undercooked foods, unwashed fruits and vegetables or foods from contaminated regions.

Parasites can also be transferred to their host by the bite of an insect vector, i.e. mosquito, bed bug, fleas.

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Fungi are microscopic molds, yeasts, and other plantlike pathogens that thrive in wet, warm places like our armpits, our belly buttons, and the dank spaces between our toes. They feed on sweat and dead tissues and produce stinky wastes that irritate our skin. Some fungi reproduce through tiny spores in the air. You can inhale the spores or they can land on you. As a result, fungal infections often start in the lungs or on the skin. You are more likely to get a fungal infection if you have a weakened immune system or take antibiotics.

Fungi can be difficult to kill. For skin and nail infections, you can apply medicine directly to the infected area. Oral antifungal medicines are also available for serious infections.

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Most viruses are frail little things (unlike bacteria and fungi, viruses aren’t even alive) that can multiply only inside a living host (including animals, plants, and even bacteria). There they spread, overwhelming and attacking the host’s immune system and causing all sorts of nasty, symptoms. Colds, flus, chickenpox, immune disorders, and measles are caused by viruses. Among the worst is Ebola, which triggers bleeding and is fatal to more than half the people who catch it.

When viruses invade a body’s cells and begin to multiply, they make the host sick. Viruses can cause all sorts of diseases. Viruses are very small and lightweight. They can float through the air; survive in water, or even on the surface of your skin. Viruses can be passed from one person to another by shaking hands, touching food, through water, or through the air when a person coughs or sneezes. Viruses can also be passed on by insect bites, animals, or through bad food. 

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