Microorganisms | Uses, Disadvantages, Diseases

Microorganisms

It is combination of two words, micro and organism. Micro means something, extremely small, unable to see with naked eye. An organism means any living thing that has an organized structure, ability to react to stimuli, reproduce, grow, adapt, and maintain homeostasis. So the microorganisms or microbes are the living organisms that cannot be seen with naked eye.

Size of Microorganisms

An object must be about 100 micrometers (µm) to be seen without a microscope. But most microorganisms are much smaller than that. Bacterial cells are generally about 1 micrometer. The viruses can be ten times smaller than bacteria.

Units of Length Generally Used in Microbiology

Metric Unit                                   Metric Equivalent

meter (m)                                       1 m = 10⁰ m

decimeter (dm)                              1 dm = 10⁻¹ m

centimeter (cm)                             1 cm = 10⁻² m

millimeter (mm)                            1 mm = 10⁻³ m

micrometer (μm)                           1 μm = 10⁻⁶ m

nanometer (nm)                             1 nm = 10⁻⁹ m

Uses of microorganisms

1.     Making Curd and Bread

2.     Medicine

3.     Soil fertility

4.     Cleaning the environment

5.     Vaccines

6.     Commercial products e.g., alcohol and wine

 Disadvantages of Microbes

1.     Cause disease and infection

2.     Can cause dental cavities

3.     Some bacterial infection such as pneumonia can sometimes cause death

4.     By ingesting infected food, severe gastrointestinal infections occur.

5.     can spoil food

Different Diseases caused by microbes

Skin rashes, jaundice, mumps, chicken pox, typhoid, cough, headache, dengue fever, food poisoning, measles, flu, rabies.

Microorganisms spread from one person to another by following ways

1.     Direct contact

2.     Food and drink

3.     Sneezing and coughing

4.     Carried by mosquitoes of flies

5.     Can also spread through air

Prevent disease from spreading by

1.     Wash your hands before eating or cooking food and especially after using the toilet.

2.     Drink the boiled water as boiling kills microorganisms.

3.     When coughing or sneezing, cover your mouth so that microorganisms can’t spreading into the air.

4.     Do not share personal items with others such as toothbrush, towel and comb.