Bacteria/DFM

Probiotics vs. Pathogens

Difference Between Bacteria and Yeast

Beef Bacteria Solutions

What are bacteria?

• Bacteria are unicellular micro-organisms found everywhere in the environment.  Some pathogenic bacteria produce toxic substances and can cause severe illness in humans and animals.  Other ‘good’ bacteria are not harmful, and in some cases are actually beneficial to humans and animals.
• To differentiate bacteria, scientist will test for various characteristics of the bacteria and give it a name.
• Bacteria are given two part names.  The first part of the name is referred to as the genus and the second part of the name is the species.  For example the full name for E. coli is Escherichia coli, so Escherichia is the genus and coli is the species.
• Sometimes bacteria within a species are further characterized and are identified by a group of letters and numbers that indicate the strain of bacteria within the genus and species.
• Vast differences exist among bacteria within the same genus and even within the same species.  You may be surprised to find out that E. coli is the primary facultative organism of the human gastrointestinal tract and can be very beneficial to humans.

Friendly and Yogurt Bacteria

• However, the O157:H7 strain (i.e. E. coli O157:H7) is a pathogen that may be found in infected produce.  This strain produces a shiga toxin that can cause a severe immune response in humans and in some cases results in death.