Bacteria are the oldest inhabitants of our planet. They managed to adapt to almost all possible living conditions. Bacteria have existed on Earth for billions of years. They are widespread throughout the planet and are present in all its ecosystems. In the article, we will address the question of which diseases cause pathogenic bacteria. The habitat of these organisms will also be considered by us.
Bacteria evolution
Their first representatives appeared more than 3.5 billion years ago. For almost a billion years, these organisms remained the only living creatures 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. Interestingly, in our time, some bacteria have retained the features characteristic of their ancestors. This applies to organisms living in hot sulfur springs, as well as living at the bottom of water bodies (in oxygen-free silts).
Soil bacteria
Soil organisms are the largest group of bacteria. Their form is ideally adapted to exist in the conditions that they prefer. During evolution, it practically did not change. In shape, soil bacteria can resemble a stick, a ball. They can also be curved. These organisms are mainly chemosynthetics. In other words, they receive energy 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 substances that use other species for life.
Types of bacteria in the soil
Fertile soil has a rich and diverse bacterial composition. Among its inhabitants stand out:
- rotting bacteria ;
- nitrogen-fixing organisms;
- pathogenic bacteria whose habitat is soil;
- fermentation bacteria (acetic acid, lactic acid, butyric acid);
- microorganisms that reduce heavy metals.
Among them, far from all are dangerous to plants or animals. Many, by contrast, are useful. They play an important role in nature. However, pathogenic bacteria are also found in the soil. Their habitat contributes to the fact that it is mainly plants that suffer from them.
Prevention of the emergence of pathogenic bacteria in the soil
If you carefully handle the soil, periodically alternate the crops grown on it, it will cope with harmful bacteria and toxic substances on its own. For example, toxic substances always appear during decay and decay of roots, stems and leaves. However, on healthy soil, this process will proceed naturally; pathogenic bacteria of plants will not multiply in it. The problem appears if the amount of plant mass requiring processing increases sharply. Therefore, it is necessary to cut off excess branches, uproot trees, remove and cut shrubs, remove all chips, roots and twigs from the site.
Fighting pathogenic soil bacteria
If you find that in your area only one type of plant is sick all the time, you do not need to spray the affected leaves and stems from year to year. The fact is that a harmful source lives in the soil. Therefore, you should protect the seeds from infection. Then the plants that emerge from them will be healthy.
Potassium permanganate diluted in water is the easiest way to fight bacteria. It should be diluted in water at the rate of 1 g per 100 ml of water. Next, you should soak the seeds in it for half an hour, then rinse them thoroughly with water. Another remedy is to dissolve 1 gram of potassium permanganate crystals and “blue stone” (copper sulfate) in a liter of water and add 0.2 g of boric acid.
Pathogenic bacteria in the human body
These organisms are symbionts-parasites. What is the danger to humans of pathogenic bacteria? They get food using another organism, including the human one. In addition, they poison the latter with the products of their vital functions. As a result of this, serious diseases can occur: cholera, typhoid, anthrax, tuberculosis, brucellosis, etc.
The most common habitat for them is the saliva of a sick person, as well as dishes and other items that the patient used. They can also enter the body through stagnant indoor air. Pathogenic bacteria are found in water, food, and on almost all surfaces. Unsanitary conditions are especially favorable for them. You can also get infected from sick animals, since some types of these bacteria, which are dangerous for them, can harm us.
And plants, as we have said, can infect pathogenic bacteria. Their habitat includes, in particular, the fruits of plants. A fetus visually affected by them can easily be determined. Therefore, you should be attentive to vegetables and fruits consumed in food, especially to wild ones. After all, pathogenic bacteria are organisms that cause dangerous diseases. Compliance with personal hygiene, as well as airing the premises - these are the best prevention.
E. coli
Pathogenic bacteria, the habitat of which is the human body, are numerous. Take, for example, E. coli. It is a symbiont bacterium, the source of nutrients for which is the organism of warm-blooded animals. Mostly Escherichia coli is rod-shaped. It lives mainly in the lower 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 type of bacteria. The bulk of them is harmless. These organisms are present in the normal intestinal flora of both animals and humans. A temperature of 37 ° C is optimal for them.
One version says that E. coli penetrates the human body within 40 hours after it is born, and lives in it throughout the life of a person. The source of its ingestion may be breast milk or people in contact with the child. According to another version, this bacterium colonizes the body in the womb.
E. coli is harmless in its usual habitat. However, it can become pathogenic if it appears in other parts of our body. In addition, its pathogenic strains can penetrate from the outside. As a result of this, a person has various gastrointestinal infections.
Streptococcus
These disease causing bacteria make up about half the microflora of our oropharynx. However, they are not dangerous here. Leftover food or desquamated epithelium is an excellent breeding ground for streptococci. They are also found in the gastrointestinal tract, genitals, and respiratory tract. A large number of these organisms live on human skin. Immunity restrains their development.
Bacteria under the influence of a number of factors are transformed from opportunistic to pathogenic bacteria. As a result, they cause severe infectious diseases.
Staphylococci
From birth, a person begins contact with the infection that staphylococcus causes. The body develops a stable immunity to it throughout life. Under the influence of a number of factors, these bacteria turn into pathogens. They affect the skin and barley, pyoderma, abscesses, boils, and carbuncles occur. The spread of infection leads to folliculitis, cellulitis, soft tissue phlegmons, abscesses, mastitis and hydradenitis.
Staphylococcus penetrates the body with a blood stream. It causes diseases of the heart (endocarditis and pericarditis), bones (osteomyelitis), joints (bacterial arthritis), the urinary system, brain, lower and upper respiratory tract. Almost all human tissues and organs can be affected by staphylococcal infection. The types of diseases that it causes, there are more than a hundred. Enterotoxins of staphylococci, getting into the gastrointestinal tract with food, lead to food poisoning (toxicoinfection).
Children under one year of age, as well as adults with weakened immunity, are most susceptible to infection. Manifestations of lesions vary. They depend on the place of introduction of staphylococcus into the body, on the degree of its aggressiveness, as well as on the state of immunity of the patient.
Tubercle bacillus
A person who becomes infected with a tubercle bacillus is ill with tuberculosis. At the same time, small bumps appear in the bones, kidneys, lungs, and also some other organs, which decay over time. Tuberculosis is a very dangerous disease, which sometimes has to be fought for years.
Plague wand
Plague sticks are also bacteria that cause disease. Infection with them leads to the appearance of an even more serious and one of the most transient 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 entire 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 large cities. And in our time, this disease remains dangerous. Plague bacteria carry fleas that parasitize rats, mice, and gophers.
Other habitats of pathogenic bacteria
Bacteria can choose for life not only those places that were discussed above. Some of them exist in conditions that seem unsuitable for life. These are hot springs, and polar ice, and rarefied air, and strong pressure. The fight against pathogenic bacteria is relevant everywhere. After all, on Earth there is no place where they could not be found.
So, we talked about which bacteria are pathogenic and where they live. Of course, this article describes only their main representatives. Types of pathogenic bacteria, as you know, are numerous, so familiarity with them can last a very long time.