Types of Bacterial Infections

Bacteria is a type of microbe which can cause different types of diseases. Most bacteria are harmless, and some are even helpful in digestion of food. But harmful types of bacteria can make you feel extremely unwell. Harmful bacteria multiply at lightening speed, and release toxins that can damage tissues considerably. When bacteria make us feel ill, the condition is termed as 'bacterial infection'. Different types of bacteria can lead to different types of diseases. Infections can be internal or external.

• E. coli
• Neisseria gonorrhoeae, commonly known as gonococci (plural), or gonococcus (singular)
• Listeria monocytogenes
• Salmonella bongori and Salmonella enterica
• Staphylococcus bacteria
• Streptococcus

Typhoid, urinary tract infections (UTI's), and strep throat are common bacterial infections. The bacteria can be inhaled or ingested. Bacteria can gain entry to your insides through a break in the skin as well. If bacteria form a parasitic association with other organisms, they are classified as pathogens.

A huge pathogenic bacteria list, and a huge list of pathogenic diseases show how these bacteria are a major cause of infection and diseases, and how they are responsible for human death.

• Acne: Skin infection, pimples on skin.
• Stomach Infection: Food poisoning caused by E. coli, Salmonella.
• Leprosy: Mycobacterium leprae causes chronic skin infection resulting in disfiguring, skin sores, nerve damage, and progressive debilitation.

• Cellulitis: Infection in the deepest layer of the skin, a red, hot, irritated, and painful skin rash commonly found on face and legs.

• Tonsillitis: Throat feels like sandpaper.
• Eye Stye: Crusty eyelids, or swollen, painful, bumpy, lumpy, cyst like growth on the eyelid caused by Staph bacteria.
• Pneumonia: Lung infection, or inflammation accompanied by cough, high fever, chills, and rapid breathing.
• Tuberculosis: Lung infection causing a bad cough, resulting in weight loss and weakness.

• Staph infections: Skin infection, or invasive infection causing endocarditis (inflammation of the inner layer of the heart, the endocardium), or blood poisoning. In worst cases, it can result in meningitis and septicemia.
• Lyme Disease: This disease is transmitted to humans by the black legged tick. 

The infection may result in skin rash, fever, fatigue, stiff neck, and body ache. Untreated lyme disease may lead to swollen and painful joints, ending up in arthritis.
Bronchitis, vaginosis, and sinus infection are some other examples of infections caused by bacteria. This list is definitely not all-inclusive.

Numerous types of bacterium are out there, creating their own brand of havoc. Usually, bacterial infections are treated with antibiotics that are specifically designed for the particular infectious bacteria. Different types of infections are caused by different types of bacteria, so you should not take antibiotics without consulting your physician.

Many risk factors are involved in use of antibiotics. In order to maintain your health, antibiotics should be used sparingly. Raw garlic, wild indigo, yogurt, tea tree oil, colloidal silver are some examples of "natural" antibiotics which can battle bacteria.

Your immune system is naturally strong enough, and it can minimize an overgrowth of harmful bacteria. Vaccination protects you against infectious diseases caused by microbes like bacteria and viruses. It strengthens your immune system. You can boost the immune system by consuming nutrients through a homeostasis promoting diet.

Regular exercise helps enhance the function of the immune system. Stress has become an inevitable part of modern life which leads to hormone imbalance and various diseases. Exercise helps maintain hormonal balance.

In some cases, use of antibiotics can be lifesaving, for example, pneumonia was a notable cause of death in the elderly, a few years back, but antibiotics have helped improve the survival rate for pneumonia. Along with malnutrition, high stress levels, having a genetic predisposition to bacterial infection, and being very young or very old are some other risk factors for bacterial infections.

Invasion of the body by pathogenic bacteria, and their multiplication can result in serious, even life-threatening complications, such as sepsis, kidney failure, toxic shock syndrome, and death. Some medications, like corticosteroids, can suppress the body's natural immune response, and can make you contract bacterial diseases. So, you need to take medications cautiously.

Disclaimer: This story is for informative purposes only and should not be substituted for the advice of a medical professional.