Why do some bacteria make sick while others do not?

Bacteria are small living creatures with their own metabolism. They are eating and they have excretions. Depending on the kind of bacterium, there can be very big differences in this matter.

Some bacteria are extracting important nutrients from our body, while others remove substances that humans otherwise could no longer use. The excretions and metabolites of one bacterium are nutrients for us, those of another bacterium can be poison for us. Other bacteria can produce antibodies, attacking our immune system.

In addition, some bacteria also attack and eat human cells, so that those cells get destroyed. This can cause an immune response of the human body. Often it is this immune reaction, coming in the form of inflammation, pain and fever, that make us experience the symptoms of our disease.

As you can see, every bacterium is different in its own way, needs a different habitat and behaves differently, which can have effects from making us sick till keeping us alive.

Even a good bacterium from the gut, which has served us faithfully there, can make us sick if it gets to the wrong place in our body and continues its work there.
2017-12-28 at 13:11