Disease-causing bacteria: habitat. Bacteria in the human body

Bacteria are the most ancient inhabitants of our planet. They managed to adapt to almost all possible conditions of life. Bacteria exist on Earth for billions of years. They are widely distributed throughout the world and are present in all of its ecosystems. In the article we will touch upon the question of what diseases are caused by pathogenic bacteria. The habitat of these organisms will also be examined by us.

Evolution of bacteria

Their first representatives appeared more than 3.5 billion years ago. For almost a billion years, these organisms remained the only living beings on Earth.

At first the bacteria had a primitive structure. Then it became more complicated, but even now these organisms are the most primitive unicellular. It is interesting that even in our time some bacteria have retained the traits peculiar to their ancestors. This applies to organisms living in hot sulfur springs, as well as living on the bottom of water bodies (in anoxic muds).

Soil bacteria

Soil organisms are the most numerous group of bacteria. Their form is ideally adapted to existence in the conditions that they prefer. In the course of evolution, it practically did not change. According to the form, soil bacteria can resemble a stick, a ball. They can also have a curved shape. These organisms are mainly chemosynthetic. In other words, the energy they receive as a result of special redox reactions that occur with the participation of carbon dioxide (carbon dioxide). As a result of this process, these organisms synthesize such substances that use other species for their vital functions.

Types of bacteria in the soil

Fertile soil has a rich and diverse bacterial composition. Among its inhabitants are:

• Rotting bacteria ;
• Nitrogen-fixing organisms;
• Pathogenic bacteria, the habitat of which is soil;
• Fermentation bacteria (acetic acid, lactic acid, butyric acid);
• Microorganisms that repair heavy metals.

Among them, not all are dangerous for plants or animals. Many, on the contrary, are useful. They play an important role in nature. However, in the soil there are also pathogenic bacteria. Their habitat contributes to the fact that they mostly suffer from plants.

Preventing the appearance of pathogenic bacteria in the soil

If you carefully handle the soil, periodically alternate crops grown on it, it will cope with harmful bacteria and toxic substances yourself. For example, toxic substances always appear during decay and decay of roots, stems and leaves. However, on healthy soil this process will proceed naturally, it does not reproduce the pathogenic bacteria of plants. The problem arises if the amount of plant matter that requires processing is sharply increased. Therefore, it is necessary to cut off unnecessary branches, uproot trees, remove and cut bushes, remove all chips, roots and twigs from the site.

Fight against pathogenic soil bacteria

If you find that only one species of plant is infected on your site all the time, you do not need to spray the affected leaves and stems year after year. The fact is that the harmful source lives in the soil. Therefore, it is necessary to protect seeds from infection. Then the plants that appear from them will be healthy.

Diluted potassium permanganate in water is the simplest way to fight bacteria. It should be diluted in water in the calculation of 1 g per 100 ml of water. Next, after half an hour, soak seeds in it, then rinse thoroughly with water. Another tool is to dissolve 1 gram of potassium permanganate and "blue stone" (copper sulfate) in a liter of water and add 0.2 g of boric acid.

Disease-causing bacteria in the human body

These organisms are symbiotic parasites. What is the danger to humans of pathogens? They receive food by using a different organism, including the human body. In addition, they poison the latter with products of their vital activity. As a result, severe diseases can occur: cholera, typhoid, anthrax, tuberculosis, brucellosis, etc.

The most common environment of their habitat is the saliva of the sick person, as well as dishes and other items that the patient used. They can also get into the body through the stagnant air of the premises. Disease bacteria are found in water, food and almost on all surfaces. For them, unsanitary conditions are particularly favorable. From diseased animals, you can also get infected, because some types of these bacteria, which are dangerous to them, can harm us.

And plants, as we have already said, can affect pathogenic bacteria. Their habitat includes, in particular, the fruits of plants. Visually affected by the fetus can easily be determined. Therefore, one should be attentive to vegetables and fruits used for food, especially to wild plants. After all, pathogens are organisms that cause dangerous diseases. Observance of personal hygiene, as well as airing the premises - this is the best prevention.

E. coli

Disease-causing bacteria, the habitat of which - the human body, are numerous. Take, for example, an E. coli. It is a symbiotic bacterium, the source of nutrients for which is the body of warm-blooded animals. Preferably, the E. coli has a rod-shaped shape. It dwells mainly in the lower part of the intestinal cavity. However, E. coli can also be found in foods, in water. In addition, it is able to survive for some time in the environment.

There are many varieties (strains) of this kind of bacteria. Most of them are harmless. These organisms are present in the normal intestinal flora of both animals and humans. The temperature of 37 ° C is optimal for them.

One version says that the E. coli penetrates the human body within 40 hours after its birth, but lives in it throughout the life of a person. The source of its entry into the body can be mother's milk or people in contact with the child. According to another version, this bacterium still inhabits the body in the mother's womb.

Intestinal bacillus is harmless in its usual habitat. However, it can become pathogenic if it is found in other parts of our body. In addition, its pathogenic strains can penetrate from the outside. As a result, a person has various gastrointestinal infections.

Streptococci

These bacteria, causing diseases, make up about half of the microflora of our oropharynx. However, here they are not dangerous. Remains of food or slipped epithelium - an excellent nutrient medium for streptococci. They are also found in the gastrointestinal tract, genitals, respiratory tract. A large number of these organisms live on human skin. Immunity holds back their development.

Bacteria under the influence of a number of factors are transformed from conditionally pathogenic into pathogenic bacteria. As a result, they cause severe infectious diseases.

Staphylococci

From the very birth of a person begins contact with the infection, which causes staphylococcus. The body throughout the life develops a strong immunity to it. Under the influence of a number of factors, these bacteria turn into pathogens. They affect the skin, and there are barley, pyoderma, abscesses, boils and carbuncles. The spread of infection leads to folliculitis, cellulitis, phlegmon soft tissues, abscesses, mastitis and hydradenitis.

Staphylococcus enters the body with blood flow. It causes heart disease (endocarditis and pericarditis), bones (osteomyelitis), joints (bacterial arthritis), urinary system, brain, lower and upper respiratory tract. Virtually all human tissues and organs can affect staphylococcal infection. The types of diseases that it causes, there are more than one hundred. Enterotoxins of staphylococci, entering the gastrointestinal tract with food, lead to food poisoning (toxicoinfection).

Children under one year, as well as adults with weakened immunity are the most prone to infection. Manifestations of lesions vary. They depend on the place of introduction of staphylococcus into the body, on the degree of its aggressiveness, and also on the state of immunity of the patient.

Tuberculosis bacillus

A person infected with a tubercle bacillus is sick with tuberculosis. In this case, small bumps appear in the bones, kidneys, lungs, and also some other organs, which eventually disintegrate. Tuberculosis is a very dangerous disease, which sometimes takes years to fight.

Plague wand

Plague sticks are also bacteria that cause disease. Infection with them leads to the appearance of an even heavier and one of the most fleeting diseases - the plague. Sometimes only a few hours pass from the first signs of infection to death. In ancient times, the devastating epidemics of this disease were a terrible disaster. There were cases when whole villages and even cities were dying from them.

For example, in the 6th century, this disease penetrated into Central Europe from the East. Raging here, the plague killed thousands of people a day in major cities. And in our time this disease remains dangerous. Plague bacteria carry fleas that parasitize on rats, mice and ground squirrels.

Other habitats of pathogenic bacteria

Bacteria can choose for life not only those places that were considered above. Some of them exist in conditions that seem unsuitable for life. This and hot springs, and polar ice, and rarefied air, and strong pressure. The fight against pathogenic bacteria is relevant everywhere. There is no place on Earth where they can not be found.

So, we told about what bacteria are pathogenic and where they live. Of course, this article describes only their main representatives. Kinds of pathogenic bacteria, as you know, are numerous, therefore acquaintance to them can proceed very long.