Bacteria, why do they make me sick?/Diseases caused by bacteria
CHAPTER 4
DISEASES
CAUSED
BY BACTERIA
Before starting:
What diseases caused
by bacteria do we know?
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Diseases caused by
bacteria
GASTROINTESTINAL DISEASES
Las infecciones intestinales conocidas como gastroenteritis, son causadas por Intestinal infections, known as gastroenteritis, are caused by bacteria, viruses or parasites that harm the intestinal mucous causing diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and fever.
Depending on the intensity of the medical condition or the type of infection, the patient may become dehydrated. Children and the elderly are at risk for dehydration. Infectious diarrhea is considered one of the most serious health problems in undeveloped countries, being one of the main causes of childhood diseases and mortality. The main microorganisms causing foodborne infections are species of Salmonella and Campylobacter, Escherichia coli and Listeria monocytogenes.
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SALMONELLA This bacterium causes a disease called, “salmonellosis” when the pathogen grows in the digestive tract. The symptoms include sudden headaches, fever, chills, vomiting, and diarrhea. Salmonellosis may be caused by eating food contaminated by the bacterium, such as vegetables, raw or not fully cooked meat, mayonnaise, raw eggs, etc. |
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ESCHERICHIA COLI This bacterium is commonly found in the human and other animals’ intestine. It can be pathogenic when the bacterium contaminates food and this food is eaten. The symptoms can be diarrhea, vomiting, and fever. One strain of E. coli, called E. coli O157:H7 or enterohemorrhagic (EHEC) is very dangerous and it causes bloody diarrhea. This strain can result in kidney failure by the effect of a toxin. |
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LISTERIA MONOCYTOGENES These bacteria enter the body through the gastrointestinal tract. Here, the phagocytes internalize them, which enable bacteria to proliferate and spread, because it is an intracellular pathogen. When it goes into the bloodstream, it can cause sepsis or meningitis. |
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CAMPYLOBACTER Humans can get it by eating contaminated food. It is the most common cause of bacterial diarrhea in children. |
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VIBRIO PARAHAEMOLYTICUS This bacterium can be found in estuaries, seawater, and some organisms, such as filter-feeding bivalve mollusks (ribbed mussel, abalones, mussel, clams, oysters, etc.). This bacterium causes gastroenteritis with an incubation period of 12 to 48 hours. In general, the infection tends to run its course in two to three days. |
GONORRHEA
Gonorrhea is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections and any sexually active person can get infected.
It is caused by the Gram-negative bacterium, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, which mainly infects the urogenital mucosa.
The bacterium adheres to mucous cells, enters them and proliferates. Then, it enters the subepithelial space where produces the infection. Structures in the bacterial surface, such as pili or fimbriae, and adhesins proteins, are important for the initial adhesion.
Effect in women
In women, the N. gonorrhoeae can be found in the reproductive tract (including Fallopian tubes, uterus, and cervix), and the infection may be asymptomatic.
An untreated gonococcal infection can cause acute pelvic inflammatory disease due to the colonization of the bacteria. It causes an inflammation of the uterus, Fallopian tubes, and abdominal cavity.
The lesions and the formation of scar tissue caused by untreated gonococcal infections may lead to infertility.
Effect in men
In men, the bacterium might cause scar tissue in the urethra, making it more difficult for urine to flow.
Neisseria gonorrhoeae
TUBERCULOSIS
Tuberculosis is a contagious bacterial infection caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which mainly affects the lungs, but it might spread to any organ.
Mycobacterium tuberculosis |
This bacterium is also known as Koch’s bacillus, in honor of Robert Koch, who was a German physician. In 1882, Robert Koch isolated this bacterium from respiratory secretions of patients infected with tuberculosis. This disease has caused millions of deaths, being known as “the white plague” in the XIX century. |
M. tuberculosis can be transmitted by breathing in air droplets or aerosols from a cough or sneeze of an infected person. The bacteria stay and proliferate in the lungs.
A type of delayed reaction produces activated macrophage nodules in the lungs, called tubercles. However, bacteria tend to survive and even proliferate in the tubercles. Then, an acute infection is produced, which may lead to the destruction of the pulmonary tissue; the spread of the bacteria to other parts of the body; or death.
CHOLERA
Cholera is an acute diarrheal infection caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The most severe cases of cholera may lead to dehydration.
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Molecular causes of Cholera The symptoms are caused by a toxin that activates the membrane enzyme called adenylate cyclase. This enzyme converts adenosine triphosphate (ATP) into cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP), which is a molecule involved in different regulatory processes in the cells, such as hormones activity, synaptic transmission in the nervous system and inflammatory and immune responses in the tissues. High cAMP levels increase the secretion of chloride ion and bicarbonate into the lumen. The ionic balance is disrupted causing water secretion into the intestinal lumen. |
In the acute phase of cholera, the loss of water from the small intestine is greater than the reabsorption in the large intestine, resulting in a major loss of fluids. Approximately, five percent of people infected with V. cholerae may present a severe cholera disease, which is characterized by profuse watery diarrhea, vomiting, and leg cramps. In these patients, the rapid loss of body fluids may lead to dehydration and prostration. The lack of proper and timely treatment can lead to death within hours.
A person can get cholera by eating food contaminated with the cholera bacterium. In an epidemic, the source of the contamination is usually the feces of an infected person.
URINARY TRACT INFECTIONS
The microbial colonization and spread in the urogenital epithelium cause urinary tract infections (UTI). It is usually a bacterial infection and affects the bladder causing cystitis.
Most of the bacteria that cause urinary tract infections are Enterobacter species, particularly Escherichia coli and Proteus vulgaris. However, nosocomial diseases may be caused by other Gram-negative or Gram-positive bacteria.
A UTI can be easily treated with the proper antibiotic. However, in severe cases, the infection may spread to the kidneys and cause pyelonephritis.
OTHER IMPORTANT DISEASES
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BOTULISM Clostridium botulinum and Clostridium tetani bacteria are naturally found in soil and sometimes cause diseases in animals. They can grow and proliferate when food is improperly canned. The disease caused by this microorganism is produced by a toxin that binds to the presynaptic neuron membrane and inhibits the release of acetylcholine. The transmission of the nerve impulse to the muscle is propagated by acetylcholine. For this reason, the toxin causes flaccid paralysis, meaning that the muscles are unable to contract. The mortality rate of this disease is close to one hundred percent, depending on the amount of the toxin ingested, and it can be fatal mostly because of respiratory failure as a result of muscular paralysis. |
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BLACK DEATH
In this disease, the bacterium Yersinia pestis causes swollen lymph nodes in the groin, armpit, and neck. Other symptoms are suppuration and fever, producing chills and delirious in many people.
In the 14th century, the most common form of the disease was swollen lymphatic nodes. At that time, this organ was called bubo, and therefore the disease was called bubonic plague.
Y. pestis colonized rodents, particularly black rats, and it was transmitted through fleas (Chenopsylla cheopis) that lived on them. The fleas, by biting humans, inoculated the bacteria into humans. The frequent contact between them facilitated the infection and spread of the disease.
It is estimated that between 1347 and 1353, the Black Death reduced the European’s population from 80 million to only 30.
There were also other forms of the disease, such as the septicemic plague. In this case, the bacterium multiplies in the bloodstream. The signs of this disease were dark skin patches, which were the origin of the name “Black Death,” or “Black Plague.” The pneumonic plague affected the respiratory system and the symptoms included a productive cough that could cause airborne transmission.
LEPROSY
This disease is characterized by skin lesions, especially in the face and extremities, caused by the Mycobacterium leprae bacteria. This pathogen, which grows inside the macrophages, causes an intracellular infection that may lead to the bacteria proliferation in the skin, and, as a result, a large skin lesion. In severe cases, the lesions cause deformities that may lead to the loss of the motor function.
The transmission of this disease involves direct contact and inhalation of the microorganism. Incubation times range from weeks to decades and years.
Mycobacterium leprae
TETANUS
Tetanus is a disease caused by a microorganism called Clostridium tetani. Its natural environment is the soil and occasionally causes illness in animals. The bacterium can infect a deep wound and secrete a toxin that reaches the neurons. Here, it causes severe neurological symptoms that can be fatal since it generates an uncontrollable contraction of the muscles. If the respiratory muscles are affected, it may lead to death by suffocation.
| Clostridium tetani |  |
Process for removal of cross contaminated micro habitats of cybernetic, spiritual and biological origin
To avoid the spread of other people's microbial contaminants first before leaving that individuals common dwelling. Have the person who supplied the suspected contaminants massage your body fully. This seems like it would cause a further contamination, but while there will be a slight comingling from this experience what will happen is the micro contaminants will be attracted and almost magnetized to return to their point of origin. Nearly every single microbe that you've contracted from that person will be brought to the surface to be expelled. The next step involves the same individual orally stimulating the sexual organs of the contaminated. The microbial invaders will be primed and ready to leave your body to return to their original host. You must ejaculate the microbes in as close a proximity as possible to that person's cranial orifices. The microbes will see this an opportunity to return to a host in which they thrived and as such the ejaculate will consist of nearly %100 microbes that originated from the other individual as they are magnetized to the surface by the initial massage. Once this process is completed you will feel renewed and rejuvenated. If you begin to feel you are contaminated by this person's microbes again the process may be repeated however many times necessary with improved results upon repititon.