• Question: if we put good microorganism with bad what would happen

    Asked by Joe Sugg to Kevin, Liz, Beccy, Rosie on 16 Jun 2017.
    • Photo: anon

      anon answered on 16 Jun 2017:

      We all have helpful bacteria in our guts, but they don’t flight off or neutralize infectious bacteria for us. Some viruses, particularly influenza, do swap genetic material between different strains and that can give rise to new strains. The consequence of this is that sometimes we get a new strain that looks different enough from others that have been transmitting lately that it can infect lots more people than usual. When this leads to a worldwide epidemic, it is called a pandemic. The last flu pandemic happened in 2009. Probably 1 in 3 of us got infected with the pandemic strain of influenza.

    • Photo: Rosie Fok

      Rosie Fok answered on 16 Jun 2017:

      Microorganisms are in constant battle for resources (space, nutrients, etc) with each other. Most mechanisms for antibiotic resistance exist because a microorganism makes the antibiotic naturally and those around it need to protect themselves from it, or the one making it needs to make sure that its own weapon doesn’t harm it.

      Keeping the right balance of normal microflora (the mixture of microorganisms that usually lives on or in us) does protect us from some diseases. For example, if our gut flora is normal we are protected from an infection called C. difficile, which causes diarrhoea and can sometimes be so serious that patients need to have their large bowel removed to save their lives. Also, being in hospital, and being treated with antibiotics, alters the normal flora in our respiratory tracts so in-patients get chest infections with different bugs than healthy people out in the community do.

Comments