Viruses

virus

Viruses (vy-rus-iz) are very tiny micro-organisms.

Viruses are even smaller than bacteria.

Viruses can only grow and reproduce inside their hosts.

Humans, animals and plants are their hosts.

Peppers effected by viruses

Most viruses cannot live long outside their hosts.

Some viruses can spread very fast inside our body.

They can make us sick.

Measles, chicken pox, polio, mumps and flu are caused by viruses.

H1N1 virus causes Influenza A(H1N1).

AIDS is caused by HIV virus.

HIV viruses in green colour

Viruses can also make plants and animals sick.

Viruses also effect bacteria.

Viruses that effect bacteria are called bacteriophage

Anyway viruses that effect plants cannot effect animals and human.

Viruses that effect human cannot effect plants and animals.

We use viruses to make vaccines.

Vaccines help our body to fight diseases.

Anyway these viruses are not the same as computer virus.

Computer viruses are not living things.

Bacteria

Bacteria are tiny one-cell micro-organisms.

They can reproduce inside or outside their hosts.

Their hosts are people, animals and plants.

Like other germs, bacteria don’t make their own food.

There bad bacteria and good bacteria.

Bad bacteria can cause eye infection, cholera, tuberculosis (TB) and others.

A bacteria named Salmonella can caused something like a very bad food poisoning.

Salmonella

They are sometimes found in eggs and peanut butter.

There are very dangerous bacteria named super bugs.

A type of super bug

Super-bugs are very difficult to be killed.

Super-bugs are usually found in hospital.

My grandfather was infected by super bugs when he was sick in UKMSC a few years ago.

The doctors said that I cannot visit him at that time because super bugs are even more dangerous to kids.

Good bacteria in our tummy keep us healthy by helping us to use nutrients from the food we eat.

We use good bacteria for making cheese and yoghurt.

A type of bacteria used to make cheese

Cheese and yoghurt are healthy food.

We also use good bacteria to make medicines and vaccines (vak-seens).

Medicines and vaccines help us to fight germs so that we can be healthy.

Uncle Azahar taught me that some bacteria can be bad bacteria if they are moved from their original site.

What Are Germs?

Germs are tiny living things that can make us sick.

They can make plants and animals sick too.

But some of them are good and useful.

We need  to use a microscope to see them.

Germ Under A Microscope

Germs do not make their own food.

They get their food from their environment.

Environment means the surrounding or where we live.

Bad germs produce toxins which is something like poison.

The toxin can make us sick.

So when bad germs get into our body; they eat our nutrients, reproduce and make us sick.

Influenza A(H1N1) and AIDS are caused by germs.

There are 4 types of germs:

1)Fungi (fun-guy)

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Mushrooms are fungi

2)Bacteria (back-teer-ee-uh)

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Bacteria That Look Like Capsules

3)Protozoa (pro-toh-zoh-uh)

Protozoa That Look Like Capsules With Green Leaves Inside

4)Viruses (vy-rus-iz)

A Virus That Looks Like A Spider With Jewel Head

Fungi are the biggest and viruses are the smallest.

Germs love to grow in dirty places and spreads very fast after a big flood, tsunami, earthquake and wars.

After natural disasters there will be cholera outbreak and other diseases from bacteria infections.

To fight germs we have to keep ourselves and our environment clean.

Always wash our hands using anti-bacteria soap and clean water, eat healthy food and drink a lot of water, juices, tea, herb tea and other healthy drinks.

Stay Away From Some U.S. Peanut Butter

There are some peanut butter from the U. S. that can’t be eaten because they carry salmonella.

Salmonella is a bacteria that can make us very sick.

Actually bacteria is a germ.

Salmonella food poisoning gives us  diarrhoea, fever and tummy cramp.

Some people died because of salmonella food poisoning.

People use peanut butter to make cookies, ice cream, cake and other food.

Those food can’t be eaten too if they carry salmonella from the peanut butter.

Some schools in the U.S. ban peanut butter.

It means there is no peanut butter in the schools.

Anyway I don’t like peanut butter so I don’t eat peanut butter.

I think if we want to made peanut butter make sure there is no salmonella.

Peanut butter in a jar.

Peanut Butter Cookies

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The sole source of the U.S. salmonella outbreak involving contaminated peanut butter appears to be the Peanut Corp of America’s Blakely, Georgia processing facility, federal officials said on Wednesday.

More than 125 products including cookies, crackers, ice cream and even some pet food have been recalled in connection with the outbreak, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said.

Six deaths may be associated with the outbreak, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. The CDC said at least 486 people from 43 states and one person in Canada have been reported ill from the outbreak of the Salmonella typhimurium strain, with 107 of them being hospitalized.

Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, said Connecticut health authorities tested an unopened container of peanut butter from the PCA’s Blakely plant and discovered the strain linked to the outbreak of illness.

The fact that the unopened container had the strain indicates contamination did not occur after it was shipped from the facility, Sundlof said. Coupled with previous evidence, Sundlof said authorities believe the Blakely plant is the only source of the outbreak.

“That is our assumption at this point. We will continue to follow up on any leads that point us in a different direction,” Sundlof told reporters during a conference call.