Bacteria refer to a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms (microscopic organisms that lack a membrane bound nucleus). They are very abundant in nature. For example, according to Christian Nordqvist (2009), a gram of soil can contain up to forty million bacterial cells. Bacterial microorganisms can be found almost anywhere and can adjust extremely well to surrounding conditions.
Not all bacteria are harmful and even play an important role in the recycling of nutrients. By recycling nutrients bacteria become a valuable resource for the human body. Large colonies of bacteria called probiotics are contained in our large intestine, where they are responsible for producing vitamins that our bodies need to survive. Even though the majority of bacteria in the body are valuable and harmless there exists another type of bacteria that has quite the opposite role. These microbes are called pathogenic bacteria. Pathogenic bacteria are the type of bacteria responsible for infections and diseases. They invade a host, reproduce, and cause the infected host harm. According to the Washington State Department of Health, Tuberculosis is one of the most common fatal diseases caused by pathogenic bacteria. It is primarily treated with a course of strong antibiotics to fight the infection. Antibiotics inhibit the growth of bacteria, and are used to treat infections. They target not only pathogenic but also probiotic bacteria. Other common ways bacteria are neutralized are by the use of disinfectants, high heat, and ultraviolet irradiation.
When bacteria no longer respond to methods of neutralization they are said to be resistant. In modern times bacterial organisms have become resistant to treatments of antibiotics. It is not as if there is only o...
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... density has led to a large amount of bacterial infections. This is due to a lack of sanitation, waste management, and access to clean water. One other driving factor is that antibiotics are not regulated, and anyone with enough money can have access to them. The overuse of these drugs has led to the discovery of bacteria with resistance to some of the most powerful antibiotics in medical science. Luckily this resistance is currently found in only harmless bacteria that are harbored in an estimated two hundred million citizens. This does not put an end to the concern. Biologists fear that the harmless bacterial may transfer genes with more deadly pathogenic bacteria. The events after a gene transfer in the right conditions could be catastrophic. Picture a deadly disease with no know medical treatment in one of the heaviest populated areas. It could only end badly.
Bacteria can function and reproduce as single cells but often combine into multicellular colonies. Bacteria are also surrounded by a cell wall. Archaea differ from bacteria in their genetics and biochemistry. Their cell membranes are made with different material than bacteria.
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are created when mutations in the pathogen's genetic code occurs, changing the protein in the bacteria that the antibiotics normally go after into a shape that the antibiotic can not recognize. The average bacteria divides every twenty minutes, so if a contaminated spot has one single bacteria in the morning, there could be trillions on that same spot at the end of the day. That means that when counting all the possibilities of mutations, the amount of mutated offspring that the bacteria might have formed during those replications could be as high as in the millions. Fortunately though, this does not happen so frequently that it is normally an issue. The amount of non-mutated bacteria vastly outnumbers the mutated ones and many of the mutations occurring in the bacteria usually have either a harmful effect, or not effect at all on its function. That means that the pathogen is still relatively less harmful than it c...
Acquired antimicrobial resistance generally can be ascribed to one of five mechanisms. These are production of drug-inactivating enzymes, modification of an existing target, acquisition of a target by-pass system, reduced cell permeability and drug removal from the cell. (Sefton) Also a bacterium that was once prone to an antibiotic can gain resistance through alt...
Bacteria are one cause of infectious disease. Bacteria are a single-cell microorganism that is very common in our bodies. Less than one percent of bacteria will actually make us sick. Some of the more common infections caused by bacteria include strep throat, salmonella, and e-coli. Strep throat is common in children and causes a painful sore throat. Strep is usually treated with antibiotic medication. Salmonella is spread on food that is contaminated by human or animal...
our everyday lives bacteria is constantly surrounding us, some of the bacterium that we encounter are beneficial to us but then there are the ones that are severely detrimental to our health. The way that they effect a persons body can differ from person to person. Many of the “microscopic foes” are very resilient and have a very fast reproduction rate. Not only do they reproduce quickly they sometimes seem to outsmart our immune system and not allow our bodies to fight the infection making it almost impossible to stop them. One thing that a lot if people rely on is the assistance of prescription drugs to get them better but even the drugs are not being effective and we can’t stop the pathogens from invading our personal places such as work, home, school, or anywhere. Even though modern medicine is advancing the pathogens could still get the get the best of us. The scary thing is we never know when the next pandemic or epidemic is going to arise. All it needs is some ordinary microbe to swap genes with a deadly germ to produce a “super pathogen” and it could happen to anyone, anywhere, as it did to Jeannie Brown who is from “our neck of the woods”.
Bacterial resistance to antibiotics has presented many problems in our society, including an increased chance of fatality due to infections that could have otherwise been treated with success. Antibiotics are used to treat bacterial infections, but overexposure to these drugs give the bacteria more opportunities to mutate, forming resistant strains. Through natural selection, those few mutated bacteria are able to survive treatments of antibiotics and then pass on their genes to other bacterial cells through lateral gene transfer (Zhaxybayeva, 2011). Once resistance builds in one patient, it is possible for the strain to be transmitted to others through improper hygiene and failure to isolate patients in hospitals.
This turn of events presents us with an alarming problem. Strains of bacteria that are resistant to all prescribed antibiotics are beginning to appear. As a result, diseases such as tuberculosis and penicillin-resistant gonorrhea are reemerging on a worldwide scale (1). Resistance first appears in a population of bacteria through conditions that favor its selection. When an antibiotic attacks a group of bacteria, cells that are highly susceptible to the medicine will die.
At his Nobel Peace Prize speech in 1945, Alexander Fleming warned against the misuse of antibiotics and the fact that by doing this, one allows the bacteria to ‘become educated’ and therefore become resistant to the antibiotic. It is believed that the first cases of antibiotic resistance were shortly after this speech. (Fleming, 1945)
Antibiotics are used worldwide and although their uses have helped many people, it doesn't come without risk. The use of antibiotics treats people and animals alike to cure infection and are easily excusable through physicians. However in recent years, since antibiotics are used so universally, antibiotic- resistant strains have become a growing problem. This suggest that the bacteria is adapting to the antibiotics and through natural selection, the antibiotic- resistant bacteria have grown in numbers. The scientific community worries about future treatment of diseases if the bacteria continues to adapt. For example tuberculosis which hasn't been a problem in some time, has started to reoccur as a much harder to treat strain. Antibiotics are the go to method of treating infection but we need to be careful when we are using them.
It is estimated that over one-half of the antibiotics in the U.S. are used in food animal production. The overuse of antimicrobials in food animal production is an under-appreciated problem. In both human and veterinary medicine, the risk of developing resistance rises each time bacteria are exposed to antimicrobials. Resistance opens the door to treatment failure for even the most common pathogens and leads to an increasing number of infections. The mounting evidence of the relationship between antimicrobial use in animal husbandry and the increase in bacterial resistance in humans has prompted several reviews of agricultural practices by scientific authorities in a number of countries, including the US.
They also describe microbes as organisms that are often too small to be seen without the aid of a microscope. Microbes, also known as microorganisms, can be broken down into four classifications that are bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protozoa.
Bacteria are single celled microbes. Bacteria reproduce by binary fission. In this process, the bacterium, which is a single cell, divides into two identical daughter cells. Binary
Bacteria are found nearly everywhere within the body and most types are harmless or even helpful to bodily function (Novitt-Moreno). While it is important to have these bacteria in the body, pathogenic invaders can cause serious illnesses. Pathogenic bacteria work by either actually attacking a part of the victim’s body or releasing toxic waste products into the body. Bacteria are single-celled and contain all of the cellular mechanisms needed to live, grow, and reproduce (Novitt-Moreno). That means, when treating a bacterial infection, it is critical to have a highly specific antibiotic that can destroy the unwanted
It is a single-celled organism that is not visible to the human eye, which means it can only be seen with a microscope. Bacteria are classified as Prokaryotes. They make their own food from the sunlight and can absorb food from the materials that they live on.
...ffects on human health. These have high negative effects on low income areas, as a result of pollution, visual, oral and air, as well as high levels of overcrowding. The World Health Organisation predicts that in the next 30years most of the world’s population growth will occur in cities and towns of poor countries. This rapid, unplanned and unsustainable pattern of urbanisation, is creating cities into focal points for environmental and health hazards (World Medical Association, 2010).