Bacteria and Humans

Abstract

Bacteria have served the mankind since time immemorial. In almost all walks of human life, one or the other bacterial (microbial) process has contributed significantly from the time even when the basis was not clearly understood (refer also Chapter 8). When wide spectral metabolism of bacteria was revealed man learnt to exploit these processes for the production of a variety ofuseful chemical compounds. But once again, it is their role as dreadful disease-causing organisms that has caught the attention of humanity more than anything else. In this Chapter we shall discuss various aspects of human life in which bacteria are involved directly or indirectly. These aspects have been classified under eight different sections and include both beneficial and harmful activities of bacteria. Readers may recall that we have already dealt with some of their activities in nature in Chapter 8, which also have an important bearing on human life. And, with bacteria playing host to a large number of recombinant DNA experiments, innumerable possibilities have opened up for their exploitation. Thus, even if one is not dealing with a microbial function directly, the channel may be created through the microbial route.