A quick microbiology primer before we begin, for the uninitiated or those who don’t have a 14 year old in their lives to ask.
Microbe is a catch-all terms that we use to describe microscopic organisms. These may or may not be pathogenic (disease-causing). They include, but are not limited to:
- Bacteria (like E. coli and S. aureus, which cause food poisoning)
- Fungi (like athlete’s foot and brewer’s yeast)
- Protists (like Plasmodium, which causes malaria and Naegleria, which you might have seen in an episode of House)
We probably shouldn’t include viruses (like the common cold) or prions (like variant CJD) in there because they’re not really classified as organisms: they’re not alive, simply inert particles that harness other living things to replicate themselves. As my year 8s would tell you, they don’t do MRS NERG (movement, reproduction, sensitivity, nutrition, excretion, respiration or growth). Continue reading
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