this post was submitted on 23 Oct 2024
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Microbiology can be so much fun!
Streptococcus pyogenes causes a flesh-eating disease (necrotizing fasciitis). This species of bacteria releases toxins that kill living tissue, so you better make sure that paper cut doesn’t get infected.
Mycobacterium tuberculosis is famous for a bunch of different pandemics over the centuries. If you thought covid was fun, imagine coughing up blood.
Clostridium botulinum is special, because it produces a very spicy toxin, so you don’t even have to ingest any living cells or spores of C. botulinum to get killed by it. If you do, you can even have your very own toxin factory inside you.
Vibrio cholerae is another classic responsible for numerous pandemics. This one is a bit different, because it involves lethal amounts of diarrhea.
Oh, and the scary bit? There are people who don’t believe bacteria or viruses exist. They actively oppose taking measures against these things. Humans can be truly horrifying at times.
"Lethal amounts of diarrhea" has now entered second place on my Worst Nightmares list. Thanks for that...
Another "fun" fact: it's one of the biggest killers in the third world, especially of small children, and at some point there was a diarrhea magazine as a result.
I can't believe tetanus got left out here. It's a common soil bacteria like botulism, but has the opposite effect if it gets in you. It makes all your muscles forcibly contract and cramp up until you die.
Botulism is really easy to get if you can food wrong, because it's the one abundant bacteria that will survive limitless time at 100C. (To can vulnerable things properly, you use high pressures to make the water get hotter before it begins to boil, and cools down as a result)
Your immune system gives some protection against botulinum, but it doesn't fully develop until about six months to a year old. This is why you should never ever feed honey to an infant. Bees will occasionally end up on the ground, picking up botulinum. There's a very small chance of a trace of the bug ending up in honey. It's not enough to harm an older child or adult, but even thst tiny amount can kill a baby.
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/botulism
Yeah, it will basically colonise their intestines instead of the bacteria that are supposed to, and just poison them continuously. It's especially a concern if you live near a construction site just because of all the dirt being moved around and exposed to air, IIRC.