Your Health Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Helpful Bacteria’

The words “colon infection” can cover a range different colon problems.

However, when medical professionals use the term, they’re most often referring to a disorder caused by a certain type of bacteria known as Clostridium difficile (commonly called C. difficile or simply C. diff).

Those most likely to get a colon infection from Clostridium difficile are seniors who are in a hospital or living in a nursing home or long term care facility. This is often the result of antibiotics they take to fight other health problems.

Antibiotics kill many kinds of bacteria - not just a certain type that are causing an illness. So, sometimes they kill bacteria that live in our intestines and help us digest our food. C. diff bacteria can become established in your intestines if there are not enough helpful kinds of bacteria present. When Clostridium difficile grows, it produces toxins that damage cells in the lining of the intestines and colon. The result is inflammation and pain.

If you only have a mild colon infection caused by Clostridium difficile, the inflammation will go away when you stop taking antibiotics. In cases wher the colon infection is more severe, however, a different type of antibiotic may be necessary to kill C. diff.

The antibiotics that seem more likely to produce Clostridium difficile infections are fluoroquinolones, cephalosporins, clindamycin and penicillin.

Clostridium difficile is plentiful and can found in plants, dirt and water. It is especially plentiful in human and animal feces, and since it can float easily on air, it spreads quickly where sanitation is poor.

To avoid C. diff contamination, be sure to keep all surfaces in your environment clean and wash your hands often. There are spores produced by Clostridium difficile that are capable of living on countertops and similar surfaces for months. Touching a surface where these germs have landed, and then touching your lips or mouth, could give them entrance to your digestive tract. This could start a chain of events that ends with a colon infection.

Just have Clostridium difficile in your system doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to be sick. But people who have been infected with Clostridium difficile can give the germs to others.

In recent years, there have been a growing number of colon infections reported caused by C. difficile bacteria. Scientists tell us that a newer, more aggressive strain of Clostridium difficile germ has mutated and is spreading. It is resistant to medications that worked before, and has resulted in several outbreaks in the last decade.

Symptoms of a colon infection can take a long time to appear after C. diff germs get into your system. It can be months. Once symptoms begin to present themselves, you can expect one or more of the following.

Abdominal cramping, along with tenderness and discomfort in the lower digestive tract.
* A bout of diarrhea that continues for a period of at least two days, with bathroom visits reaching 10-15 times a day.
* Colitis, which is a type of severe stomach inflammation.
* You might also experience patches of raw tissue that can bleed or produce pus or blood in the stool.
* Fever and nausea.
* Decreased appetite and sudden weight loss.
* Symptoms that indicate dehydration may be occurring.

It’s time to call a doctor if you have these symptoms for 2-3 days or more.

Once you’ve been diagnosed with a C. difficile colon infection, your physician will probably discontinue prescribing the antibiotic that brought on your problem. But even though this will reduce the severity of your symptoms, other treatment steps will probably be needed.

Ironically, you may still be able to take certain other antibiotics. Several are available that will stop C. diff while allowing healthy bacteria to grow. The most frequently antibiotics for a colon infection are metronidazole and vancomycin. Both these medications may have side effects like nausea, and they sometimes leave a bitter taste in your mouth. You may get an especially bad reaction if you mix metronidazole and alcohol.

There are a number of probiotics which be beneficial in restoring your intestinal tract Your doctor may also suggest a type of yeast called Saccharomyces boulardii, which can be effective when combined with certain other medications.

Surgery isn’t usually performed, but is sometimes done in especially severe cases.

Treatment for a colon infection doesn’t always work. This happens becausethe C. difficile germs was never totally removed from the digestive tract in the first place, or because the patient has been exposed to a new strain.

Click on what causes colon infections and colitis and colon health to learn more about colon health. Neal Kennedy is a former radio and TV talk show host with a special interest in health and fitness topics.

Stomach bacteria are microorganisms, which cannot be seen with the naked eye. These Stomach bacteria can grow very fast as soon as they get most favorable conditions.  There are some friendly bacteria such as intestinal flora or micro flora which is good form human health. These healthy stomach bacteria are helpful to release many useful vitamins such as vitamin K and vitamin B etc.  The most important task that stomach bacteria will do is to maintain normal Ph level or acid level of human stomach. It is important to maintain normal ph level to remain healthy, but it is also important at the same time to maintain normal level of bacteria.

Many Different Types of Stomach Bacteria

There are many types of stomach bacteria such as intestinal bacteria, which are helpful to digestive system also; lacto bacteria that keep candida and other harmful infections under control, it works almost like an anti-body. These bacteria will spread like wildfire in our systems. The most important advantage of this candida bacterium is that it protects immune system of humans from external infections.

There are many sources of bacteria, the common source of stomach bacteria can be food, water, air, our skin, mouth, digestive track or other areas of our body.

Some of the stomach bacteria may be good for our digestive system but some may cause any serious diseases.  Some stomach bacteria may work harmoniously with our immune system.  There are billions of stomach bacteria which said to be friendly or beneficial bacteria. Additionally these bacteria live in our intestine and multiplied into times to digest food.  So these bacteria are not static. They work with body system and go. These stomach bacteria can get all the necessary conditions in stomach

Not All Stomach Bacteria Are Good

Not all stomach bacteria are good, some of the stomach bacteria enter the body through the mouth, and they can survive in the acidic conditions in the stomach and can cause serious diseases and can be one of the reasons behind the death.

The relation between human and intestinal bacteria is very complex.  These bacteria can grow in warm and moist environment. These bacteria can live off the constant flow of food passing through the gastrointestinal tract. There are several benefits of these stomach bacteria for instance they prevent any disease causing bacteria within intestine. It is also helpful for small intestine for muscular activity. Without bacteria small intestine will get less muscular movement.

Tests For Stomach Bacteria

There are many tests are available from which people can check for the presence of H pylori antibodies, If it indicates positive results than you have definitely come in contact of bacteria at some time in your life.  Blood tests can also be used to check for anemia that can be caused by stomach bleeding. Breath test will help to determine whether you are infected from H pylori bacteria or not.

Stool test checks for stomach bacteria in your body, if a person get positive results than he may be infected from stomach bacteria.  You should check for presence for blood in your stool that also indicates infection caused by stomach bacteria.

There are many different types of bacteria that can be divided into harmful bacteria and helpful bacteria.

Some helpful bacteria are as follows;

Useful Bacteria

Fermentation is necessary to taste cheese or yogurt. Helpful bacteria like brevibacterium give carbon dioxide during the process of fermentation. Helpful bacteria are responsible for the complexity and acidity in beer.

Pseudomonas Syringae is a type of bacterium found in leaves and grass and produces protein for frost formation. Now the protein from this type of bacterium is sold in a brand name to enhance the formation of snow.

Caulobacter Crescentus is another helpful bacterium which has long sticky sugar molecules. They are better than glues and therefore natural and non toxic adhesive are made from these bacteria.

There are billion types of bacteria around us. Most of them are helpful bacteria and they are very important for our survival. Yet there are some few harmful bacteria that cause diseases.

Harmful types of bacteria are as follows;

Streptococcus - Streptococcus bacteria are one of the harmful bacteria that may cause disease in human and animals particularly mammals. They cause some small infections like strep throat and some dreadful diseases like pneumonia. Some harmful streptococci may even cause death. These bacteria are highly contagious and can spread easily through air.

Group A and B bacteria are more harmful streptococcus bacteria than any other bacteria strain. They may cause scarlet fever, rheumatic fever etc. They may also cause problems in female reproductive system. However they are controllable through vaccines and antibiotics.

Yet there are some harmful bacteria that may actually cause gum bleeding and other teeth problems. As they progress rapidly, steps must be taken to prevent them in the early stage itself. However there are some harmful bacteria that are highly resistant to drugs.

Bacteria can be classified into 3 types based on the shape. The rod shaped bacteria, Sphere shaped bacteria and Spiral bacteria are the three types of bacteria. There are some bacteria that are in different shapes and so it is difficult to classify tem according to shape.

Some bacteria require oxygen for their survival while others do not. On the basis of oxygen requirement they are classified as aerobic and anaerobic bacteria.

On the basis of Gram staining method bacteria are classified into two different types. They are Gram positive bacteria and Gram negative bacteria. Bacteria are also classified according to their growth and reproduction. Such classification includes Autotrophic bacteria and heterotrophic bacteria. Autotrophic bacteria take the required carbon from carbon dioxide by itself. Some types of autotrophs will use sunlight to transform carbon dioxide to sugar. While heterotrophic bacteria will take sugar or carbon from the environment they live.

Scientists have classified various types of bacteria according to the phyla. Each phylum then again corresponds to various species of bacteria. The bacteria can be classified according o the environment they live also. Sweet water bacteria, ocean water bacteria are some of the types of bacteria classified according to their environment. Some types of bacteria can survive in extremely hot or cold temperature.