- There are many harmful activities of bacteria:
- Food poisoning
- Spoilage of food
- Destruction of domestic articles
- Reduction of Soil fertility
- Denitrification
- Biowar/Bioterrorism
Food poisoning:
- Bacterial toxins present in food causes food poisoning.
- This leads into nausea, vomiting, abdominal discomfort diarrhea and even death.
- The food poisoning bacteria are Clostridium botulinum, Salmonella enteritis, Staphylococcus aureus etc.
Spoilage of food
- Souring of milk, rotting of vegetables and meat are caused by many saprotrophic bacteria.
Destruction of domestic articles
- Spirochaete cytophaga cause cellulose degradation thereby destroying textiles, wooden articles and canvas.
Reduction of Soil fertility
- Denitrifying bacteria like Thiobacillus denitrificans, Micrococcus denitrificans, Pseudomonas aeroginosa convert soil nitrates and ammonia into free nitrogen and thus reduce the soil fertility.
Denitrification:
- The denitrifying bacteria decompose nitrogen compound into free nitrogen.
Biowar/Bioterrorism:
- The improved variety of infective agents (bioweapons) are widely been used as an agent of effective weapon of bioterrorism.
- The antibiotic resistant microorganisms like Bacillusanthracis are being produced at large scale and when these are released at strategic locations, they cause acute infection of anthrax.
- The spores of B. anthracis can be produced and stored in a dry from keeping them vaible for decades in storage or after release.
- An attack with bioweapons (antibiotic resistant strains mould) leads to spread of communicable diseases like anthrax and plague etc.