• Question: Why is bacteria bad?

    Asked by to Naomi on 19 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Naomi Osborne

      Naomi Osborne answered on 19 Jun 2014:

      Bacteria can be bad because they can make you ill or even kill you – years ago many deaths used to be caused by bacteria such as typhoid, but luckily we have vaccinations now which make us immune to many bacterial infections.

      This doesn’t stop some from making you very ill though – so it’s important we wash our hands, clean wounds and cook food properly to prevent bacteria that can make you ill from entering our body.

      Not all bacteria are bad though – we have over 100 trillion in our gut which are very important for our health, these are the ‘good bacteria’. They help fight off the bad ones, help us digest food and boost our bodies defenses – this is why you can buy yoghurts containing bacteria – because they’re the good ones!

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