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What
is a Giardia?
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Giardia
is one of any of various flagellated, usually nonpathogenic
protozoa of the genus Giardia that may be parasitic in the intestines
of vertebrates including human beings and most domestic animals.
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What
is a Cryptosporidium?
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Cryptosporidium
is a waterborne protozoan that causes the disease cryptosporidiosis.
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What
is a Micron?
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A
unit of length equal to one millionth of a meter.
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What
is E. Coli?
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Escherichia
coli or E. coli is a common bacterium that normally inhabits
the intestinal tracts of humans and animals but can cause infection
in other parts of the body, especially the urinary tract. One
strain, sometimes transmitted in hamburger meat, can cause serious
infection resulting in diarrhea, anemia, kidney failure, and
death. E. coli is widely used in laboratory research, especially
in genetic engineering.
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What
is Vibrio Cholerae?
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Vibrio
Cholerae is a short, motile, S-shaped or comma-shaped bacteria
of the genus Vibrio and causes cholera.
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What
is Salmonella?
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Salmonella
is any one of various rod-shaped bacteria of the genus Salmonella,
many of which are pathogenic, causing food poisoning, typhoid,
and paratyphoid fever in human beings and other infectious diseases
in domestic animals. Salmonella Typhosa causes
typhoid.
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What
is Shigella?
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Shigella
is one of any of various nonmotile, rod-shaped bacteria of the
genus Shigella, which includes some species that cause
dysentery.
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What
is Bacteria?
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Bacteria
are unicellular, generally microscopic organisms having three
typical forms: rod-shaped (bacillus), round (coccus), and spiral
(spirillum). The cytoplasm of most bacteria—the oldest
life-forms on earth—is surrounded by a cell wall; the nucleus
contains DNA but lacks the nuclear membrane found in higher
plants and animals. Many forms are motile, propelled by movements
of a filamentlike appendage (flagellum). Reproduction is chiefly
by transverse fission (mitosis), but conjugation (transfer of
nucleic acid between two cells) and other forms of genetic recombination
also occur. Some bacteria (aerobes) can grow only in the presence
of free or atmospheric oxygen; others (anaerobes) cannot grow
in its presence. Facultative anaerobes can grow with or without
oxygen; obligate anaerobes are poisoned by it. In unfavorable
conditions, many species form resistant spores. Different types
of bacteria are capable of innumerable chemical metabolic transformations,
e.g., photosynthesis and chemosynthesis. Bacteria are both useful
and harmful to humans. Some are used for soil enrichment with
leguminous plants, in alcohol and cheese fermentation, to decompose
organic wastes and clean up toxic waste sites, and in genetic
engineering. Others, called pathogens, cause a number of plant
and animal diseases, including cholera, syphilis, typhoid fever,
and tetanus.
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What
is a Protozoan?
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Protozoan
are members of an informal grouping (sometimes considered a
subkingdom) of microscopic one-celled protists. Most are solitary,
but a few live in simple colonies. The majority are aquatic,
living in fresh or salt water; some live in soil. Despite their
small size and lack of multicellular organization, protozoans
carry on all the metabolic functions of higher animals: digestion,
excretion, respiration, and coordination of movement. Some species
can photosynthesize, and many are parasitic, often causing diseases
in humans and other animals.
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All definitions are from The Microsoft Bookshelf,
1996-1997 Edition.
Biology
| Chemistry | Medicine
| La Natural
Do you have any questions
not listed here? Please email them to:
support@epicwater.com
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