When I was a kid, my parents told me that everyday items are always filled with bacteria, such as banknotes, tabletops, keyboards, smartphones, floor (pick up your fallen food within 5 seconds or it will be infected with bacteria), I grew up told there are millions of bacteria under the fingernails all the time, is this really true? How can they be always there and survive that long if they are on the floor, banknotes etc.? They are living organisms, need to eat something, right? For my thinking there is nothing to eat on the banknotes normally. Can anyone bust this myth or confirm? Thanks in advance.
In: Biology
Yes bacteria are everywhere. The 5 second rule is bullshit though, bacteria don’t “climb on your food”, they either stick to it immediately or not at all depending on the surface of it.
Bacteria can survive a while without food. Depending on the type they might even have “hibernation states” that can survive for decades (anthrax for example)
Though most places do have enough food for them. Dust in a house for example is mostly human skin flakes. And some bacteria can also feed on sunlight like plants, and then other bacteria eat those.
Bacteria are *everywhere*. They are fantastically good at survival and reproduction, and some of them can survive in absurdly extreme conditions. Their populations are therefore enormous and constantly surging. This prevalence is why other organisms all had to evolve ways to both defend themselves from bacteria (as in elaborate multifactor immune systems) and benefit from the presence of bacteria (as in harboring them in digestive systems).
Yes but when you see pictures of plate being like ‘I swabbed this and grew it omg how gross’ remember that those bacteria are being given perfect conidtions to grow. There are a lot of things which inhibit bacteria growth in the soil, your skin, animals. So they are evrywhere but probably more in a lurking sense when it comes to everyday life. They aren’t coming for your life… mostly… but give some regular bacteria some cake and they do like to party.
Yes, this is all true. Also, the bacteria living in and on your body outnumber your own cells by almost 10 to 1, it’s just that your cells are much bigger.
The first chapter in any Microbiology 101 textbook is about “the ubiquity of micro organisms.” They are everywhere. Not only do they outnumber us, they out weigh us.
There is more bacteria and viruses inside of and on you than there is you. Your microbiome is roughly 57% of your body. So, yeah, bacteria are everywhere.
Yes. There is bacteria, fungus, viruses, archaea, protozoa, algae, and others living on everything, everywhere, all the time. On every surface you touch, in every breath you take, on everything you put in your mouth. It’s pretty amazing to think about.
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Dr. Stanley Falkow, who was regarded as one of the fathers of modern molecular microbiology, was fond of saying in his lectures that “the entire world is covered in a thin patina of fecal microbes.”
Even your body has more bacteria in and on it as it has body cells. (Bacteria are much smaller.) The complete digestion system is based on bacteria. They live even in your stomach acid (heliobacter pylori). They protect your skin from being overrun by other bacteria and fungii. You can smell it when they are feasting; that’s not bad. A little wash with a little or no soap at all regulates it.
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