• Question: what bacteria can kill?

    Asked by Legendary Marcin to Claire, Liad, Ruth, Ryan, Mako on 23 Jun 2015.
    • Photo: Ruth Elderfield

      Ruth Elderfield answered on 23 Jun 2015:


      Bacteria can kill pretty much anything that is living and help to decompose anything that is dead. Bacteria can change really quickly so is able to adapt and find food sources to grow off.
      That is why we do a lot of cleaning in the lab and at home, to stop lots of bacteria building up and infecting us. That is also part of the reason we store food at cold temperatures and make sure certain food is properly cooked so the bacteria inside is killed.
      Humans have also evolved so that their immune system fights off bacterial invasions.
      Though, we do have lots of bacteria inside us that doesn’t harm us at all and can even help us stop the harmful bacteria growing.

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