Do bacteria get sick?

Question

I was wondering if bacteria get sick themselves or do they die of old age or what?

Answer 1

Of course bacteria gets sick. Haven't you had Amoxcillin? Everything living has it's weakness and becomes diseased.

Answer 2

Bacteria can be infected with bacteriophages, which often kills the bacteria.

As far as I've heard, the Russians actually use this technique in some of their "medicated" bandages. I think the issue here in the States is that 1) biologics face significant regulatory hurdles, and 2) research into new antibiotics is more profitable for drug companies to invest in.

Answer 3

Of course they do. By consuming antibiotics, the bacteria will get sick and eventually due and thus, we'll recover from the sickness the bacteria caused.

Answer 4

Viruses have adapted to attack almost every organism on earth. So there are some viruses that attack humans, some that attack cats, some that attack plants, and some that attack... bacteria.

Viruses that attack bacteria are called bacteriophages (literally "eaters of bacteria") and they tend to be quite lethal to the bacteria.

Don't know if any bacteria have died of old age, however... hard to say if this has any meaning to a bacterium... if a bacterium reproduces by dividing, does that mean that the two offspring start over at age zero at the time of the division? Dunno.

Answer 5

there would have to be something small enough to infect a bacteria in order to get it sick. but you can poison bacteria with antibiotics.

Answer 6

Yes with antibiotics

Answer 7

Yes, feed them antihumonics to make them get better.

Answer 8

yes