Bacteria

Transmission of bacteria by plants from soil to animals and humans

Almost all bacteria genera can be found in the soil, which include pathogens of infectious diseases in humans and animals.

How does the pathogen get from the soil into the organisms of terrestrial animals?

Of course, with plants, because it is they who connect the soil with the terrestrial world.

Salmonella

Salmonella is a bacterium that loves to live in meat and meat products (Tatar beefsteak, fish paste, jelly, patties), fish, as well as cheeses and even fruit juices.

Most often, after several hours (a maximum of 72 hours), we develop diarrhea, abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting. In addition to stomach problems, poisoning is usually accompanied by a high temperature (up to 39 ° C), headache, cramps, lethargy.

Salmonella infection is often treated in polyclinic settings (especially in children to avoid dehydration), but antibiotics are not always used.

Those who have recovered from the infection can excrete pathogenic bacteria along with feces and infect others within a few weeks and even months.

Meningococcus

The bacterium Neisseria meningitidis, which causes meningococcal infection and its dangerous consequences - meningitis, meningoencephalitis and sepsis - is transmitted from one infected to another and colonizes the lining of the tonsils and pharyngeal walls.

Meningococcal disease is most often limited to asymptomatic carriage, but an inflammatory process can also develop - nasopharyngitis, and in the worst case scenario, the disease goes into a generalized form, which in 50% of cases leads to death.

For 2024, several serogroups of meningococcus are known, differing in their characteristics. For example, serogroup A is associated with the largest outbreaks worldwide - all such cases between 1914 and 1945 are attributed to it. But currently, meningococcus B and C provide the most persistent sporadic incidence around the world.

2023: 'Markings' found in bacteria DNA

Scientists from NRNU MEPhI and the Federal Research Center of Biotechnology of the Russian Academy of Sciences have developed a mathematical algorithm that allows you to find repeating elements in genomes with high accuracy. They tested the new approach on nine species of bacteria, and previously unknown repeats were found in the genomes of each species, forming a kind of "marking" in the bacterial genome. According to the researchers, the algorithm will help find new genetic targets to increase the productivity of bacterial strains or to obtain new antibiotics. NRNU MEPhI announced this on September 25, 2023. Read more here.