Part 3 of 3
Microbes in the food you eat or the water you drink could make you sick.
- Millions of people become ill from eating foods contaminated with microbes.
- In the U.S., more than 5,000 people die from these infections each year.
- Poor manufacturing processes or poor food preparation can allow microbes to grow in food and subsequently infect you.
- E. coli bacteria sometimes persist in food products such as undercooked hamburger meat and unpasteurized fruit juice.
- These bacteria can have deadly consequences in vulnerable people, especially children and the elderly.
- Cryptosporidia are bacteria found in fecal matter and can get into lake, river, and ocean water from sewage spills, animal waste, and water runoff.
- They can be released in the millions from infectious fecal matter.
- People who drink, swim, or play in infected water can get sick.
- People, including babies, with diarrhea caused by Cryptosporidia or other diarrhea- causing microbes, such as Giardia and Salmonella, can infect others while using swimming pools, water parks, hot tubs, and spas.
Transplanted animal organs may harbor germs.
As researchers investigate the possibility of transplanting animal organs, such as pig hearts, into people, they must guard against the risk that organs also may transmit microbes that were harmless to the animal into humans, where they indeed may cause disease.
Adapted from http://www.niaid.nih.gov/publications/microbes.htm#a
