What Types of Germs Are There?
Germs are found all over the world, in all kinds of places. There are four major types of germs: bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protozoa. They can invade plants, animals, and people, and sometimes they make us sick. Bacteria (back-teer-ee-uh) are tiny, one-cell creatures that get nutrients from their environment in order to live. In some cases that environment is the human body. Bacteria can reproduce outside of the body or within the body as they cause infections. Some infectious bacteria cause sore throats (called strep throat), ear infections, cavities, and pneumonia ( new-mo-nyuh). Viruses (vy-rus-iz) can’t live outside of living cells. They need to be in or on a living thing like a plant, animal, or person in order to grow and reproduce. Whatever a virus lives in is called its host. When viruses get inside people’s bodies, they can spread and make people sick. Viruses cause chicken pox, measles, flu, and many other diseases.
