Why does the human body seem to take so long to get over a viral infection as opposed to a bacterial one (even without the use of antibiotics)
In: Biology
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Anyone remember that Jimmy Neutron episode where they shrunk down because Carl was sick? When they were inside him, I don’t remember if it was bacteria or a virus but they had a pretty bad time dealing with the sheer number and because of what looks like armor.
This is not true. It probably seems like you get over bacterial infections quickly because you’re used to things like small infected cuts. These are opportunistic infections, with bacteria that aren’t really adapted to grow inside your body, so the immune system generally doesn’t have too much trouble. There are plenty of bacterial infections that can be very chronic–tuberculosis is a great example of a very slow-growing infection that can progress for years without your immune system being able to stop it.
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