Donate SIGN UP

What else might be lurking there in our DNA

Avatar Image
rov1200 | 09:48 Thu 15th Oct 2009 | Science
3 Answers
When we take a antibiotic it kills off the bacteria in our body including the good ones that we need in our gut to breakdown the food we eat. However once the affects have worn off they reimpose themselves. I assume that our bodies recreate the bacteria to function normally. Is this correct?

Also it is said that the majority of the population contain viruses in the throat that can be passed on to others that give them diseases such as meningitus. Is there a purpose to this?
Gravatar

Answers

1 to 3 of 3rss feed

Best Answer

No best answer has yet been selected by rov1200. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.

For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.
rov - I am a little confused by your question.
Your initial comment suggests 2 things - Firstly,that antibiotic therapy kills off all bacteria within a human body, and secondly, at least on my reading, that human DNA is responsible for the bacterial repopulation. Have I understood you correctly?
The bacteria within our body consist of a balance between competing communities of bacteria, living in equilibrium and mostly residing withing the gut, separated from our other various functional organs by a membrane.Antibiotic therapy does not kill off all of the bacterial populations in their entirety. The level of effect is obviously very dependent upon individuals response to the dose they receive ( prescribed doseage and individuals resistance) and type of antibiotic ( broad spectrum etc).
It is probably more accurate to say that most antibiotic therapy achieves the effect of altering the relative balance of the bacterial communities that live within humans. The body, and principally the gut, is then recolonised by the remaining bacteria. It is this area of recolonisation that can lead to opportunistic infections by yeasts, for example, which are normally held in check by the normal bacterial population balance.

So bacteria are not formed from human DNA.

Secondly, your comment about "viruses in the throat", and then asking about the purpose. Again, maybe I am misunderstanding your point, but you seem to be inferring that the viruses are somehow manufactured by human DNA.Is this what you meant?

In any event, your disease example, meningitis, is not the best example of this.Meningitis is simply inflammation of the meninges, and the cause can be either bacterial ( meningococco or pneumococci )or viral ( H,Influenzae B, mumps). The purpose of the infection is the survival of the relevant viral or bacterial agent, and is an example of diffuse colonies - no guiding purpose, just a general survival ur
Gah no preview facility - this is getting really, lame, AB people ;)
I had intended that my first answer to your question,that was curtailed by ABs editing process, was mean to end like this ;
j- "just a general survival urge of all organisms to spread to as many beneficial ecologies as possible. Humans are just walking ecologies, to bacteria and viruses. Viruses remaining within a human over a long period of time is less common because of their nature of reproduction and survival - Only a few, such as HSV remain over an extended period, largely by cycling through long periods of dormancy interspersed with short periods of activity and infectiousness."
Question Author
Thanks for your answers Lazygun. Maybe I have explained it wrongly but basically what I am getting at is the existance of a bacterium necessary for life but a separate entity and how it gets there anyway. Almost like a chicken and egg situation where one depends on the other.

There are many sections of the human DNA where within it there is coding for many unrelated nasties. For instance I believe a fly's DNA coding is involved. Also I believe there are sections that code for viruses, etc.

Therefore if you are to believe the inconsistences in my first paragraph then gut bacterium DNA could be found.

If you read the literature they skip the initial stage and assume they have always existed that way. Hope this makes sense.

1 to 3 of 3rss feed

Do you know the answer?

What else might be lurking there in our DNA

Answer Question >>

Related Questions

Sorry, we can't find any related questions. Try using the search bar at the top of the page to search for some keywords, or choose a topic and submit your own question.