• Question: If you were to describe and explain to a first-timer what types of harmful microbes there are and what they do. How would you explain it?

    Asked by anon-230938 to Tom, Steven, Jessica, Haafizah, Clio, Bruno Silvester on 19 Nov 2019. This question was also asked by anon-231151.
    • Photo: Steven Rudder

      Steven Rudder answered on 19 Nov 2019:

      The most common bacteria that make you ill are Campylobacter, Clostridium perfringens, E. coli, Listeria, and Salmonella.These bacteria grow on food and in areas where food is produced. So, it is important to keep the area where food is produced clean and to wash and cook fresh produce to destroy any of these bacteria.

      If you consume a high dose of any of these bacteria you may get food poisoning. You may spend a few days being sick and having diarrhoea. If your immune systems can’t fight the bugs itself you may have to visits an doctor to get medicine.

    • Photo: Jessica Mitchell

      Jessica Mitchell answered on 19 Nov 2019:

      Microbes are tiny living things that are found everywhere, they even live inside us! Most of the time they do not cause any problems and we can live quite happilly with lots of different types of microbes (bugs) in and on us. But, sometimes one microbe might start to grow faster inside us or we might catch a new type of microbe that our body hasnt experienced before, or we might catch a very nasty bug. These situations cause us to become ill.

      Mostly our own bodies can fight off these bugs, we might feel tired and poorly but we’ll be ok if we rest and look after outselves. However sometimes the body just cant do this on it’s own and thats when we might need help from a Doctor who may prescribe us antibiotic medicines to help fight the bug.

      The best way we can look after ourselves is to wash our hands with soap, clear up after preparing food, eat well to keep the good microbes inside us happy and only take antibiotics when a doctor tells us to.

    • Photo: Bruno Silvester Lopes

      Bruno Silvester Lopes answered on 21 Nov 2019:

      I agree with Jessica. Steven has also given a nice explanation to the most common bacterial pathogens we might encounter.

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