Bacteria and Bacterial Infection

While children's recurring ear infections used to be easily treated, lately they have become a parent's nightmare. In the old days, you would simply call the pediatrician, make a quick trip to the pharmacy for the "pink stuff" - shake well, keep in the refrigerator, finish all - and in a week you had a happy, healthy child again. But now, infections seem more difficult to treat in both children and adults. What's changed?

Bacteria are simple one-celled organisms. We share our world with countless different species of bacteria, many of which have not yet been identified. Most are harmless, and many are helpful -- even vital to our existence. For example, the bacteria that live in the roots of plants like beans and peas, help extract nitrogen from the atmosphere to enrich the soil.

Bacteria can be found, by the billions, all around us: on furniture and counter-tops, in the soil, and on plants and animals. They are a natural and needed part of life. In fact, they often protect us by competing with more dangerous bacteria for food and space. Bacteria cause disease and infection when they are able to gain access to more vulnerable parts of our bodies and multiply rapidly. Bacteria can infect many parts of the body, including:

* eyes
* ears
* throat
* sinuses
* lungs
* airways
* skin
* kidneys
* bladder
* stomach
* colon
* brain
* heart
* bones
* genitals
* blood