The Good, the Bad, the Ugly - Ask a Biologist
MICROBES The Good, the Bad, the Ugly
Table of Contents
Prologue...................................................................................... 1 Microbes Comic........................................................................2
The Story Behind the Scenes
Bacteria Overview....................................................................13 Identifying Bad Bacteria.........................................................17 The Human Microbiome........................................................18 Important Vitamins..................................................................20 Lacto and E. coli.........................................................................21 Strep Throat................................................................................22 Yogurt and Probiotics.............................................................22 Antibiotics................................................................................... 23 MRSA............................................................................................. 25 Phage Virus.................................................................................26 Nanotechnology....................................................................... 26 Receptors & Cell Surface Markers.......................................27 Words To Know .........................................................................28 Credits.......................................................................................... 29
Conrad Storad
The Story Behind the Scenes
Karla Moeller
Editor
Sabine Deviche
Illustration, Design and Original Script
Gustavo Castaneda
Additional Illustration for Story Behind the Scenes
Web Version
askabiologist.asu.edu/microbes
Microbes is printed on FSC certified paper
Deputy Lacto
Deputy E. coli
Sheriff Phage
Strep Bacteria
Bacteria Bandits
MRSA the Resistant
Prologue
You may already know that some bacteria can make you sick. Unlike the bacteria that cause diseases and infections, most of the bacteria inside you right now are harmless and live peacefully side by side with the cells of your body. These bacteria work together with your cells to keep other unwanted invaders away and to help keep your body running smoothly.
Cast
In this story, you will see how good bacteria, antibiotics, and new technologies help keep the bad guys from taking over the body. Many bacteria appear throughout this story. They come in many different colors, shapes, and sizes.
Learn More
This icon lets you know that there is more you can learn about this topic in the Behind the Scenes story.
Words to Know
If you find an orange word in the Story Behind the Scenes that you don't know, you can find out what it means by looking in the Words to Know on page 28.
? Arizona Science Center & Ask A Biologist | Funded by the National Center for Research Resources of the National Institutes for Health | Page 1
Our story takes place in the tiny hidden world inside your body...
You might not realize it, but you are home to trillions of bacteria, tiny life forms too small to see without the help of a microscope.
Bacteria come here from many different places.
Some float through the air in tiny particles of water.
Some hop from person to person through the objects we touch, like money or door knobs.
Others hitch a ride down the digestive system with the food you eat.
Some kinds have lived here since the very beginning, when your body was just a couple days old.
Z
Many others (between 300 and 1,000 different kinds) have moved in since.
Human Body
Population: 10 Quintillion
? Arizona Science Center & Ask A Biologist | Funded by the National Center for Research Resources of the National Institutes for Health | Page 2
Thriving bacterial communities exist in many different parts of the body.
Others make themselves at home in the plaque inside your mouth.
Some live on the surface of your skin and on the hairs of your scalp.
Your bodys largest bacterial communities exist along your digestive tract, in your large and small intestines.
You might know it by another name: your gut.
Little colonies even exist under your eyelids, on the surface of your eyes.
Most folks in this town are good, helpful, law-abiding bacteria.
Howdy!
Hello!
Need a How are hand?
you?
They help with digestion and make important vitamins the body needs.
Vitamin K keeps blood and bones healthy.
Biotin helps cell growth.
Vitamin
K
Hmmm...
This place looks nice!
Gutville
Biotin
Once in a while, some pretty unsavory characters come to visit...
? Arizona Science Center & Ask A Biologist | Funded by the National Center for Research Resources of the National Institutes for Health | Page 3
Lets meet the heroes of our town. When bad bacteria come to visit, its up to these deputies to keep bad guys from making themselves at home.
How about that one?
Looks like we found
our new home!
So, what brings you to
Gutville?
Woah, you dont belong
here.
Howdy, Im deputy
Lacto. Meet my partner, deputy E. coli.
Theres no room here for
you folks.
Were looking for a place to
stay.
Move along now!
Usually, the body's defenses can keep the bad bacteria from sticking around.
Good job, partner!
EXIT
Other unwelcomed visitors arent quite so easy to get rid of...
? Arizona Science Center & Ask A Biologist | Funded by the National Center for Research Resources of the National Institutes for Health | Page 4
These villains might come through the air, hitching a ride in drops of saliva from a sick person who coughed without covering his or her mouth.
This way, gang!
Oh no, these hooligans are strep
bacteria. They can cause serious
trouble! They might
give the body strep
throat!
Then they make themselves at home in the throat and tonsils.
Strep throat? Whats
that? It makes the throat
scratchy and red, and makes it hurt
to swallow.
It can also give the body
fever and chills.
Sometimes the bad guys get out of control and are just too much for the body to handle alone.
Uh-oh,theyve taken over the
throat!
When that happens, we have to bring out the big guns: Antibiotics.
? Arizona Science Center & Ask A Biologist | Funded by the National Center for Research Resources of the National Institutes for Health | Page 5
Stomach
Antibiotic pills are broken down in the stomach and small intestine, releasing chemicals that are
bad news for bacteria.
Inside the small intestine, antibiotics are absorbed into the blood stream. This network of blood vessels carries the antibiotics throughout the other parts of the body.
Small Intestine
Back in Throat Town, the antibiotics are working!
Lets get out of here,
quick!
Meanwhile, in Gutville...
I dont feel so good.
Antibiotics travel through the entire body, and cant always tell us normal bacteria from the
bad ones.
Strep bacteria are defeated, but many good bacteria from Gutville and other parts of the body are hit as well.
The once-thriving bacterial communities throughout the Human Body are now ghost towns.
? Arizona Science Center & Ask A Biologist | Funded by the National Center for Research Resources of the National Institutes for Health | Page 6
................
................
In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.
To fulfill the demand for quickly locating and searching documents.
It is intelligent file search solution for home and business.
Related searches
- good questions to ask a guy
- stackoverflow how to ask a good question
- how to ask a good question
- good questions to ask a teacher
- the qualities of a good teacher
- the represents the domain of a function
- the characteristics of a good husband
- ask a doctor a question for free
- is the csb bible a good translation
- a word for good and bad combined
- the utility of a good or service
- 3 1 what are the hexadecimal bytes for the following instructions a inc dptr