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Huh. The wikipedia page of bacteriodes fragilis says that it's an obligate anaerobe[1]. I thought that our bodies were filled circulating oxygen-rich fluids. Ho
by TheAdamAndChe 9y ago
Huh. The wikipedia page of bacteriodes fragilis says that it's an obligate anaerobe[1]. I thought that our bodies were filled circulating oxygen-rich fluids. How can obligate anaerobes surivive in our bodies?
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacteroides_fragilis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacteroides_fragilis
- yorwba 9y agoYour colon hopefully isn't filled with oxygen-rich fluids. And I'm pretty sure that most of the oxygen in blood is bound in red blood cells, so the bacteria would be pretty unlikely to be harmed by it.
- DoreenMichele 9y agohttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3568965 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3568965 Gangrene can be treated in part by using a hyperbaric chamber to increase oxygen content of the body. Presumably, if our tissues were all oxygenated, gangrene would never happen.
- Fomite 9y agoYour body is not a sack. There are different structures, with different oxygenation levels in them. Anaerobic bacteria do especially well in mucous-rich areas - the mouth, the gut, and the female genital tract.