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 | What is a Giardia?
 | 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?
| Cryptosporidium is a waterborne protozoan that causes the
disease cryptosporidiosis. |
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| What is a Micron?
| A unit of length equal to one millionth of a meter. |
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| What is E. Coli?
| 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?
| 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?
| 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?
| 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?
| 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?
| 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 | Sports Bottle
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