• Question: What is the hardest microorganism for humans to destroy entirely?

    Asked by anon-233076 to Rebecca on 20 Nov 2019.
    • Photo: Rebecca Shaw

      Rebecca Shaw answered on 20 Nov 2019:


      Great question!
      So many microorganism’s now have the ability to survive despite us taking drugs to get rid of them. They have developed antibiotic resistant genes. You might have heard of these being called ‘superbugs’. These can be hard to get rid of and only with a strong amount of antibiotics does the infection go away.
      But we can live with superbugs on our skin everyday- like MRSA – it is when they find a way into your body (through a wound or burn) that things can get nasty.
      We do have microorganisms that have been known to survive extreeeme conditions. There is a family of bacteria called Deinoccocus that can survive radiation, really high and really low temperatures, high and low pressures as well as surviving being put in acid! These guys are pretty tough and are known as polyextremophiles! They’re pretty cool and have been found living in normal places too!

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