Bacteria Facts

Bacteria are found everywhere and most are not parasitic.  The few that are cause a variety of diseases with a variety of symptoms.  Knowing the cause of the problem is just as important as the symptoms for figuring out the perpetrator.  For instance, Brucellosis is a bacterial infection caused by drinking unpasteurised milk from infected cows.  The symptoms, repeating fevers and night sweats, weight loss, back and joint pains and depression, are similar to other infections such as malaria.

A number of bacteria that occur normally in animals can cause food poisoning, including the clostridium and botulinum bacteria.  Symptoms of food poisoning include diarrhoea and abdominal cramps with clostridia while botulism symptoms include cramps and constipation, facial paralysis and difficulty swallowing, nausea and dizziness.
Gonorrhoea, a sexually transmitted bacterial disease, has symptoms of painful urination and discharge from the sexual organs.

Bacteria can also cause infections in wounds with the symptoms being redness and swelling around a wound and the formation of pus.