Microorganisms

• Microorganisms, also known as microbes, are found in various environments, including soil, water, and the bodies of animals.
• Microorganisms can be beneficial, as in the case of friendly microorganisms, or harmful, as in the case of pathogens.
• Microorganisms can be single-celled, like bacteria, some algae and protozoa, or multicellular, such as many algae and fungi.
• Microorganisms can live in all types of environments, ranging from ice cold climate to hot springs; and deserts to marshy lands.
• Microorganisms are also found inside the bodies of animals including humans.
• Some microorganisms grow on other organisms while others exist freely.
• Microorganisms play an important role in our lives, with some being beneficial and others harmful and causing diseases.
• Microorganisms have been used for the production of alcohol since ages.
• Friendly microorganisms are used for various purposes, including the preparation of curd, bread and cake.
• Curd contains several micro-organisms, with the bacterium, Lactobacillus, promoting the formation of curd.
• Lactobacillus multiplies in milk and converts it into curd.
• Drink boiled drinking water to prevent diseases caused by microorganisms.
• Use mosquito nets and repellents to prevent diseases caused by mosquitoes.
• Spray insecticides and control breeding of mosquitoes by not allowing water to collect in the surroundings.
• Use certain chemicals which kill the microbes to prevent food poisoning.
• Bacteria are also involved in the making of cheese, pickles and many other food items.
• An important ingredient of rava (sooji) idlis and bhaturas is curd.
• Antibiotics are not effective against cold and flu as these are caused by viruses.
• Vaccines from disease-causing microbes can protect several diseases including cholera, tuberculosis, smallpox and hepatitis.
• Edward Jenner discovered the vaccine for smallpox in 1798.
• Children/infants are given vaccination to protect themselves against diseases as the body produces antibodies to fight the invader and remembers how to fight the microbe if it enters again.
• If dead or weakened microbes are introduced into a healthy body, the body fights and kills the invading bacteria by producing suitable antibodies.
• In childhood, injections were given to protect against several diseases.
• It is essential to protect all children against diseases as necessary vaccines are available in nearby hospitals.
• Polio drops given to children are a vaccine.
• A worldwide campaign against smallpox has led to its eradication from most parts of the world.
• Vaccines are made on a large scale from microorganisms to protect humans and other animals from several diseases.
• Some bacteria are able to fix nitrogen from the atmosphere to enrich soil with nitrogen and increase its fertility, these microbes are commonly called biological nitrogen fixers.
• Boojho and Paheli observed the school gardener making manure and collected wastes of plants, vegetables and fruits from nearby houses and gardens, they put them in a pit meant for waste disposal, after some time, it decomposed and got converted to manure.
• The plant waste in pot A, has been decomposed due to the action of microbes, the nutrients released in the process can be used by the plants again.
• In pot B, the polythene bags, empty glasses, bottles and broken toy parts did not undergo any such change as the microbes could not ‘act’ on them and convert them into manure.
• Microorganisms can be used to degrade the harmful and smelly substances and thereby clean up the environment.
• Microorganisms are harmful in many ways as some of them cause diseases in human beings, plants and animals.
• Microorganisms can be seen with the help of a microscope.
• Blue green algae fix nitrogen directly from air and enhance fertility of soil.
• Alcohol is produced with the help of yeast.
• Cholera is caused by Vibrio cholerae.
• Yeast is used in the production of sugar, alcohol, hydrochloric acid, and oxygen.
• Carrier of malaria-causing protozoan is female Anopheles mosquito.
• The most common carrier of communicable diseases is housefly.