Question

Describe a situation in which a microbe would be harmless in one location but cause a serious infection in another.

Answer 1

• Microbes need suitable environment for replication and causing disease.
• Staphylococcus epidermidis bacteria infection is an example for a microbe which can be harmless at one place whereas cause a serious infection at other place.

• This is a gram positive bacteria which is part of normal flora of skin. It present normally at human skin and does not cause any infection. It helps in skin homeostasis and also prevents skin inflammation and infection by other microbes.

• It may enter in our blood circulation through catheters, intravascular devices like heart valves and shunts and also through lage wounds.
• After entering in blood circulation, it replicates and causes serious infections like septicemia (infection in blood) and endocarditis (infection in endocardium). These are life threatening conditions.