• Question: Are the majority of geerms good, or bad?

    Asked by lisaloo to Claire, Matt, Rob, Sam on 26 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Sam Geen

      Sam Geen answered on 26 Jun 2013:

      It’s sort of a mix. I’m unsure what fraction help our bodies or cause illness. I’d guess most cause illnesses because there are so many strains of flu, etc. But the bacteria in our gut are important for digesting food, etc. And we’ve made bacteria that make insulin for people with diabetes.

    • Photo: Matthew Pankhurst

      Matthew Pankhurst answered on 26 Jun 2013:

      Germs are bad, but this is just our definition of which bacteria and viruses are bad for us. Not all viruses or bacteria are bad for us – we couldn’t survive without some kinds of bacteria – they do most of the work to digest our food!

    • Photo: Claire Lee

      Claire Lee answered on 26 Jun 2013:

      I guess in general most are bad, because really all an organism (or virus) wants to do is live and replicate. Our bodies have formed a symbiotic (win-win) relationship with some of them, but I think the majority of them rather harm us.

      Luckily for us, our bodies are really good at getting rid of things that are not supposed to be there, so most of the time you don’t even notice when you’ve been invaded 🙂

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