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Tiny Troopers

Bacteria are bad, right? Aren’t bacteria the tiny little ‘germs’ that make us sick? We have antibacterial soaps and cleaning products to kill bacteria, and we have antibiotic medicines to stop infections caused by bacteria. People and bacteria don’t get along, right? Well, the truth isn’t that simple. Actually, most bacteria are our friends. We could not live without these tiny living organis

It’s a good thing that most bacteria are not the enemy—because they are everywhere. They are in the soil, the air, the water and in and on every part of our bodies. Some bacteria can even survive in extreme habitats, such as deep underground or in boiling hot springs. Bacteria are the smallest known living things on the planet, with about ten thousand species discovered so far.

Each person’s body has trillions of bacteria. In our digestive systems, bacteria help break down the food we eat so our bodies can use the nutrients and get rid of the waste. Some bacteria in our bodies likely produce important nutrients, such as vitamin K, themselves. One of the most important jobs for our bodies’ good bacteria is to keep the bad bacteria out. Good bacteria help keep our bodies strong and ready to fight off diseases caused by bad bacteria.

Bacteria are not only important for our bodies. They are important for the environment, too. Bacteria in soil break down dead plant and animal materials. This cleans things up, and it also fertilises the soil to help new plants grow. Bacteria have even been used to break down rubbish stored in landfills and oil that pollutes water after oil spills. Researchers have even discovered bacteria that feed on plastic, one of the hardest types of rubbish to break down.

While there are many benefits of bacteria, some scary diseases can be caused by bad bacteria. For example, the bubonic plague, also known as the Black Death, killed millions of people in the fourteenth century. Dangerous, contagious diseases like these can quickly spread to others, making large numbers of people sick at once. Thankfully, most diseases today that are caused by bacteria can be treated with antibiotics. However, antibiotics cannot tell the difference between good and bad bacteria. So, they kill off good bacteria along with the bad. At times, some bad bacteria can survive the antibiotics and become even stronger. So, doctors try to use antibiotics only when they are truly needed to fight off certain bacterial infections.

The benefits of bacteria in our world are many and growing. While it is true that we have to be careful about spreading bad bacteria, there are many more good bacteria that are our friends. They’re like a microscopic army fighting alongside us to make our bodies and our world healthier.