Bacteria 101- Protect yourself from MRSA, Salmonella, E.coli, flesh eating disease, more!

As the saying goes- do something good and no one notices, do something bad and everyone notices! Such is the case with our bacterial friends. Make no mistake, there are good things that bacteria do!

Good bacteria cover our skin and mucus membranes, to competitively protect us from bad bacteria. Good bacteria protect our digestive tract in the same way, plus they are essential in the proper breakdown and usage of the foods we eat. Good bacteria live in our soil and water to help break down organic materials such as dead trees, plants, and animals. Without bacteria, life as we know it would not exist!

There are, however, some bad eggs, that seem to have given bacteria a bad name. When I say bad, folks, I mean BAD! Pathogenic bacteria caused the "Black Plague", typhus, tuberculosis, flesh eating disease, infant botulism, and so many more. I call this "bugs behaving badly".

Read on, and let me introduce you to some of my cohorts, such as E. coli, MRSA, Salmonella, and more!

"I saw the whole thing, officer. It was a short, scrawny girl with long blue hair, and wearing rollerskates!"

Odd statement, right? It does, however, give a place to start. Just like we have developed common traits to concentrate on when describing a person, the microbiologist has ways to start to identify a certain bacteria.

When you feel sick, you go to a doctor. If the doc thinks you may have a bacterial infection, samples will be taken, and sent to the lab. You know what I mean, right? If they think you have "strep throat" they swab your throat. If you have a cut that is draining pus, they swab the cut. If they think you have a urinary infection, they collect a urine sample. When we receive these samples in the lab, the first thing we do is to "plate" the sample. What does that mean? We place your sample directly on agar plates, and incubate them overnight to grow.

When we check your plates the next day, you will either have growth, or you won't. If you do, we have to decide whether your bugs are good bugs (normal flora) or bad bugs (pathogens). To do that, we have to figure out what kind of bug we are growing. Now we put on our detective hats.

So, let's assume we have growth. MOST bacteria that we will encounter fit into one of two groups. They will either be "gram positive" or "gram negative". Note I say most. Bacteria do what they want. They do not have to, and therefore do not, follow rules. The minute you say "bacteria do this" there is always some wise bug that will "do that"!

The "gram stain" is the first step we take to identify an organism. We take a swab of the growth on the agar plate, and smear it onto a slide. We then flood the slide with a series of stains and decolorizer. When we then look at the slide under a microscope, the organisms will either be

After we note the gram reaction, we will then look at morphology (the shape of the organism). There are many different shapes of bacteria. Each shape we find, coupled with the gram reaction, leads us down a specific path to identification.

Morphology
Here I will briefly discuss morphology. It may not seem brief as you are reading this, but trust me- it's brief.

The first shape I will mention is bacilli. Better known as rods. E. coli is a bacilllus, as is Anthrax. The main difference between the two is the gram reaction. E. coli is gram negative (pink) and B. anthracis is gram positive (purple).

The next shape on the list is cocci. Cocci are spherical, or ball-shaped. Staph and Strep are both gram positive cocci, while Neisseria and Moraxella are gram negative cocci.

Think you're getting it? Hang on. Now we have some bugs that can't even follow these simple rules! There are pleomorphic (which means shape-changing) bacilli, which are officially classified as bacilli, but can appear as cocci or bacilli. There are diplococci that are cocci, but appear in pairs that actually narrow down and almost seem rod-like. There are coccobacilli, that are officially- well who really knows what category we'll stick them in. They are either elongated cocci, or rounded bacilli- whichever way you want to see it. (Half full? Half empty?) Then we have some gram negative organisms that hold the crystal violet stain to appear purple, and some organisms that stain pink and purple, so we call them gram variable. Clear as mud? Perfect! Let's move on...

Time for me to introduce you to some of the bad bugs, so that you can understand them a little better, and know their M.O.s.

For instance, this pic is of a person with flesh eating disease. One organism that can cause this is Strep pyogenes- the same bug that causes strep throat!

Let me say, for the record, the best thing you can do for the prevention of the spread of pathogens, is WASH YOUR HANDS! I don't mean soak them in bleach or harsh chemicals. Just plain soap works just as well. Soap makes your skin slippery, so the pathogens slide right off. I'm not a big fan of antibacterial soaps and gels. Antibacterial soaps and gels kill everything in sight, including your beneficial normal flora. Also they contribute to the evolution of more resistant bugs- like MRSA! Just use common sense, and wash your hands when they are dirty!

WOW! MRSA! I have heard of people who view a diagnosis of MRSA as a fate worse than death. What is it? MRSA is simply a Staphylococcus aureus strain that has become resistant to methicillin, which is in the penicillin class of antibiotics. Methicillin was produced to be used against beta-lactamase producing organisms that were resistant to penicillin. Methicillin is no longer in use in the clinical setting, but for the purpose of determining resistance to the penicillin class of antibiotics, S.aureus is tested for sensitivity to oxacillin, which is in the same class.

Staph aureus, and MRSA have been around for a long time. A large percentage of health care workers are asymptomatic carriers of MRSA. This is not some obscure bug that has surfaced to decimate the human race. This is a bug that is all over the place. It can set up shop on your skin, in your nose, under your nails, on your dog- pretty much anywhere, without causing too much trouble.

The trouble comes when it is introduced to an open cut, or maybe a person with a compromised immune system. Common sense is helpful here. Don't pick your nose, and then scratch the sore on your leg without washing your hands. Don't play with your dog, and then pick your nose without washing your hands. Don't pick your nose and then pet your dog without washing your hands. Is there a theme emerging here? WASH YOUR HANDS! Don't get me wrong- this is a heavy hitter bug, but pretty much if you keep your hands clean it will mind it's own business.

Another bad bug is Streptococcus pyogenes. Actually, in my opinion, people are way too casual about this one. That's right- people go nuts about MRSA, and ignore Strep. Bad mistake. Strep pyogenes is a very common infection, especially in infants and young children. It is also very easily treatable with penicillin, which is I presume, why people don't get too excited about it. This bug is what I call "silent but deadly". It can obviously cause strep throat, but also, cellulitis(fleshy inflammation- most common in the lower legs), scarlet fever, toxic shock syndrome(this will just plain kill you!), necrotizing fasciitis (flesh eating disease) glomerulonephritis (kidney infection), and, if untreated, rheumatic fever(your own body attacks your heart tissue).Don't mess around with this one, folks. Get to the doc ASAP!

Lions, tigers, bears, and E.coli!

Don't get me wrong- definitely a killer in the right circumstance. The thing that most people don't understand, is that E.coli is not E. coli is not E. coli.

HUH? There are way too many strains of E. coli to count. Most of them are the beneficial bugs that live in our intestines. There are, however, some toxin producing strains that are deadly. The most notorious one is E. coli 0157:H7. The people most at risk of death due to these toxins are the very young, the very old, and the immunocompromised. (Another good reason to Keep your immune system healthy) Again, common sense should prevail here. E. coli is an intestinal bug. It exists where there is poop, i.e. farms and bathrooms. Again, handwashing is essential, but this one could actually invade even if you wash 1000 times a day. Why? Water supplies are a big problem with this bug. If there is an avenue for poop of any sort to seep into untreated water supplies, then there is a chance for this bug to make its way into your belly.

Another offender is hamburger. Again with the poop, and sorry for the disgusting line of conversation, but I don't make the rules. Cows carry E. coli. When cows get sent to slaughter, they get "processed", which includes the removal of internal organs- including intestines. When the intestines are cut out of the cow, many times they are not taken completely intact, which means leakage of intestinal contents- i.e. E. coli. When buying steaks and roasts, this is not such a problem because the organism stays on the outside of the meat, and the bug is killed during the cooking process. The big risk is hamburger. Hamburger is a chunk of meat after it has been put through a grinder. The problem is this: The grinding process not only grinds the meat, it takes any bacteria that may be on the outside edges of the chunk, and homogenizes it within a clump of meat. Now the bacteria is spread through all of this processed meat. Bacteria love this kind of thing! Add to that the fact that people make hamburger patties and let them sit on a counter or a picnic table for a couple of hours before they throw them on the grill. (P.S. bacteria grow best at body temp, so a sunny summer day is just perfect!) So now you take your hamburger and cook it. If you cook it all the way through, you'll probably kill all the bugs and be O.K. If you like your burger rare, though, you're asking for a trip to the hospital! The moral of this story: keep your burger as cold as possible until you cook it. Cook it all the way through. If you get sudden, severe diarrhea and you know you've had suspect hamburger, get to the ER ASAP, or it can kill you!!

This one's a toughie. This is also a stool bug (poop bug) but is never considered to be normal flora. It is pathogenic to humans, always. (O.K., I made the mistake of saying always. There are people who can be asymptomatic carriers of Salmonella. As in Typhoid Mary! It is still considered a pathogen, though, because if it's passed to another person it will cause disease.) Salmonella is the organism that causes typhus. It is the bug that caused the Peter Pan peanut butter recall. It has been linked to cantaloupes imported from Honduras, and has recently caused a huge scare in the tomato industry. What's up with this? Salmonella is an intestinal bug. In certain individuals it can colonize without causing symptoms. (Again- Typhoid Mary?)This gives the organism a place to live while waiting to sicken its next victim. Salmonella has been traced to chicken, reptiles, and fruits and vegetables. Hmm... Why might that be? Have you ever heard of manure being used as fertilizer? Hello? Commercial fertilizers are available that are processed, and don't actually contain manure. Most farmers, however, spread their manure on their fields to fertilize and also to get rid of the pile. Some smaller farmers even use human feces to fertilize. (Sorry- again, I don't make this stuff up!) Well, guess what else they may be spreading? Umm, Oh, I don't know, Salmonella? YEP! The moral of this story? Wash your fresh fruits and vegetables. I put them right into my dish water and wash and rinse them.

In the case of the peanut butter, you are kind of at the mercy of the F.D.A. If you think you're really sick, go to the ER ASAP. These bugs can kill.

These bugs that I have mentioned are just a few of the human pathogens that are out there causing disease and infection.

Hopefully by writing this page, I have helped to educate people, not scare them. The world has enough problems without hiding from microbes! The biggest defense against pathogenic bacteria is education. The second is HANDWASHING!!!! Educate yourself, and use common sense. We can all live in harmony!