When a bacterium dies, does it leave behind a tiny corpse?
Posted Mar 7, 2017, 12:38 PM UTC
11812
I read somewhere that they are a real issue in the medical field in regard to complete sterilization so yes they do
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*Opens thread*
"Yep... followed by some further explanation"
*Closes thread*
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Yes.
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awww
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Yep, and if it's a gram-negative bacterium, the cell membrane contains endotoxins that are released when the cell dies. This is why when you take medicine for an infection, you'll sometimes hear it said that "it will get worse before it gets better". It's because you're mass-killing all the bacteria, so they're releasing huge amounts of toxins, making you feel worse temporarily (this only applies to gram-negative infections though).
Edit: I'll clarify since this is on the front page now, and the word "toxin" gets thrown around so much by hippies nowadays that it's lost all meaning. Endotoxins aren't some evil juices that bacteria secrete just to be jerks. They're lipopolysaccharides that are essential to the structure of the bacterial cell, and they also happen to cause a strong immune response in animals, so that's why we feel like crap when they get released into our bodies.
Great answer, thank you
Many bad bacteria are bad only for this reason. We don't get sick from the live bacteria, but from the waste they leave behind.
wow, TIL
Bacterial pathology is so cool. This is also the difference (sort of) between food poisoning and a food infection. Food poisoning means you've ingested bacterial toxins that were already present in the food you ate; you get sick within hours of eating, you're sick for a day or two, but your body eventually flushes them out. A food infection is more serious, because it means live bacteria have set up shop inside your intestines and are pumping out toxins every day. These take days for the symptoms to manifest (basically there is an incubation period, rather than an immediate reaction), and can last for weeks and require antibiotics to cure.
To add to this.. Sterile liquids are often put through tiny little filters to get rid of all the corpses after they've been irradiate with gamma rays.
Til
Source?
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