🤧 Is a common cold a virus or a bacterium?
Is a common cold a virus or a bacterium? A common cold is a viral picture, not a bacterial cell living in the nose. The number to keep beside that choice is 200. Public-health counts put more than 200 viruses behind that picture, so a drug aimed at bacteria answers a different organism.
🧫 Does a virus carry its own ribosomes?
Does a virus carry its own ribosomes? A virus carries zero ribosomes of its own and must borrow a host cell. The number to keep beside that choice is 0. Bacteria are cells with ribosomes, so a particle that brings none is filed with viruses, not with bacteria.
🔵 Are coccus, bacillus and spirillum three species?
Are coccus, bacillus and spirillum three species? Those three words are shapes of bacterial cells, not three species names. The number to keep beside that choice is 3. A round cell, a rod and a spiral can each hide many species, so shape is a first glance, not an identification.
🦠 Is one cell enough to count as a bacterium?
Is one cell enough to count as a bacterium? One bacterial cell is already a whole organism, not a fragment waiting for a body. The number to keep beside that choice is 1. Archaea are also single cells, so “one cell” does not by itself prove the bacterial domain.
🍞 Is baker’s yeast a bacterium or a fungus?
Is baker’s yeast a bacterium or a fungus? Baker’s yeast is a fungus with a nucleus, not a bacterium. The number to keep beside that choice is 6000. The baker’s species is often taught with about 6000 protein-coding genes, a eukaryotic inventory a typical bacterium does not match.
🍄 Are a mold and a mushroom two different kingdoms?
Are a mold and a mushroom two different kingdoms? A mold and a mushroom are two growth forms inside the fungal kingdom. The number to keep beside that choice is 2. Both feed by absorbing, so splitting them into two kingdoms doubles a branch the atlas keeps as one.
🔥 Are archaea just an old name for bacteria?
Are archaea just an old name for bacteria? Archaea are their own domain, not a nickname for bacteria. The number to keep beside that choice is 1977. The 1977 ribosomal split by Woese and Fox pulled archaea off the bacterial branch.
💨 Which microbes make methane gas?
Which microbes make methane gas? Methane-makers in this story are archaea, not ordinary bacteria. The number to keep beside that choice is 4. The molecule they release has 4 hydrogen atoms on one carbon, which is why the gas is called methane rather than a bacterial waste of another formula.
💉 Is a bacteriophage a kind of bacterium?
Is a bacteriophage a kind of bacterium? A bacteriophage is a virus that infects bacteria. The number to keep beside that choice is 1917. The name was fixed in the research record around 1917, when d’Hérelle described a particle that ate bacterial cultures.
📏 How small is a phage next to a bacterial cell?
How small is a phage next to a bacterial cell? A tailed phage is a virus drawn near 50 nanometres, not a bacterial cell. The number to keep beside that choice is 50. A bacterial cell near 1 micrometre is about 20 times longer than that 50-nanometre drawing, so the phage page is the virus shelf and the bacterium page is the host.
👁 Are the animalcules Leeuwenhoek saw bacteria?
Are the animalcules Leeuwenhoek saw bacteria? The 1674 letters describe swimming animalcules that the atlas files with protozoa, not as a synonym for every bacterium. The number to keep beside that choice is 1674. Protozoa are larger eukaryotic cells, so a swimming speck in a drop is not automatically a bacterial rod.
🟡 Is a protozoan cyst the same as a bacterial spore story?
Is a protozoan cyst the same as a bacterial spore story? A cyst is a tough travel form of some protozoa, not a bacterial spore. The number to keep beside that choice is 14. Teaching notes often keep that hardy stage in view for about 14 days in a story of survival, which is a classification fact, not a cleaning recipe.
G Does a bigger gut-species count mean a better gut?
Does a bigger gut-species count mean a better gut? A species count near 1000 is a scale of the community, not a personal grade. The number to keep beside that choice is 1000. The gut chapter treats diversity as a description of many populations, so one integer does not rank a person.
⚖️ Is the gut a ten-to-one switch for body weight?
Is the gut a ten-to-one switch for body weight? The gut microbiome is not a dial that sets body weight. The number to keep beside that choice is 2016. A widely cited revision in 2016 pulled the old ten-to-one cell story toward a much closer ratio, a count debate, not a weight plan.
🏷️ Is a genus name enough to call a product a probiotic?
Is a genus name enough to call a product a probiotic? A probiotic claim needs a strain, not only a genus slogan. The number to keep beside that choice is 16. The 16S gene is a map of relatedness, and it does not by itself name the strain a jar claims to contain.
🫙 Does a fermented drink automatically count as a probiotic?
Does a fermented drink automatically count as a probiotic? Fermentation makes a food; a probiotic is a named strain with a studied role, not the drink by default. The number to keep beside that choice is 1000000000. A label that shouts 1000000000 cells still fails when it never names the strain.
🍷 Does every fermentation make alcohol?
Does every fermentation make alcohol? Yeast fermentation can make ethanol; lactic acid bacteria make acid instead. The number to keep beside that choice is 12. Table wine is often taught near 12 percent alcohol by volume, a yeast outcome, not proof that yogurt or kimchi took the same path.
🧪 Is fermentation a chemical trick without microbes?
Is fermentation a chemical trick without microbes? Fermentation is a microbial process, not a sterile chemical trick. The number to keep beside that choice is 1857. Pasteur’s studies from 1857 tied the change in the food to living yeast rather than to a lifeless rearrangement.
🧴 Is face skin the same community as the foot?
Is face skin the same community as the foot? Face, armpit and foot grow different skin communities, even though all are skin. The number to keep beside that choice is 5. Skin is often described near pH 5, an acid setting that already sorts who can live on which site.
🚿 Does one shower erase the skin microbiome?
Does one shower erase the skin microbiome? Washing changes the surface for a while; it does not delete the skin community. The number to keep beside that choice is 24. A 24-hour clock is a teaching scale for that rebound, not an order to wash on a schedule.
🌱 Is a teaspoon of soil just dirt and germs?
Is a teaspoon of soil just dirt and germs? A teaspoon of soil is a habitat of many guilds, not a smear of germs. The number to keep beside that choice is 9. Counts in that spoon are often taught as powers of 10, and 10 to the 9 is the billion-cell scale, not a danger score.
🌍 Is a soil germ one kind of microbe?
Is a soil germ one kind of microbe? Soil holds bacteria, fungi, archaea and protozoa together, so one nickname hides several branches. The number to keep beside that choice is 6. A classroom split into 6 groups, those four plus phages and the nitrogen partners, stops the word dirt from doing the sorting.
🫘 Do bean roots make nitrogen by themselves?
Do bean roots make nitrogen by themselves? Legume roots host rhizobia; the partnership fixes nitrogen, the plant does not do it alone. The number to keep beside that choice is 1886. Hellriegel’s work around 1886 showed nodules, not the leaf, were the seat of that fixation.
💨 Is nitrogen fertilizer the same thing as the nitrogen in air?
Is nitrogen fertilizer the same thing as the nitrogen in air? Air is mostly nitrogen gas that most plants cannot use; fixation and fertilizer are two different routes into a usable form. The number to keep beside that choice is 78. About 78 percent of dry air is that N2 gas, which is why a bag of fertilizer is not a synonym for the sky.
🧬 Does a new variant name mean a new kingdom of life?
Does a new variant name mean a new kingdom of life? A variant is a genetic neighborhood inside a species, not a new kingdom. The number to keep beside that choice is 99. Two genomes can share about 99 percent of their letters and still carry a variant name, which is a label of difference, not a new tree.
🦆 Is an H and N name a new species of influenza?
Is an H and N name a new species of influenza? H and N label surface subtypes of influenza A, not a new species. The number to keep beside that choice is 18. Influenza A is taught with 18 hemagglutinin subtypes, so the number is a shelf of labels inside one virus group.
💊 Is antibiotic resistance a personal failure of one patient?
Is antibiotic resistance a personal failure of one patient? Resistance is a population fact about bacteria, not a moral score of one person. The number to keep beside that choice is 1945. Fleming’s 1945 Nobel lecture already warned that careless use could train bacteria, which is history of a population, not a dose chart.
🌐 Do leftover antibiotic tablets finish a public-health story?
Do leftover antibiotic tablets finish a public-health story? Leftover tablets are a stewardship problem, and this page writes no personal dosing plan. The number to keep beside that choice is 2015. The WHO global action plan of 2015 frames resistance as a shared system, not as a private cure schedule.
💉 Is a vaccine the same tool as an antibiotic?
Is a vaccine the same tool as an antibiotic? A vaccine is advance training of immunity; an antibiotic is a drug aimed at bacterial cells. The number to keep beside that choice is 1796. Jenner’s 1796 cowpox experiment sits in the vaccine chapter as history of that training idea, not as a modern instruction.
📜 Does a vaccine give you the disease it names?
Does a vaccine give you the disease it names? A vaccine shows the immune system a preview, it does not hand over the full disease as the myth says. The number to keep beside that choice is 1980. Smallpox eradication was certified in 1980, a population history of that preview strategy, not a personal treatment sheet.
🏙️ Is a biofilm one germ stuck to a surface?
Is a biofilm one germ stuck to a surface? A biofilm is a community of cells in a shared matrix, not one germ. The number to keep beside that choice is 1978. Costerton’s 1978 popular account, How Bacteria Stick, put that city picture into public view without turning it into a home remedy.
🦷 Where do people meet a biofilm without a lab?
Where do people meet a biofilm without a lab? Teeth, pipes, stones, ship hulls and kitchen films are everyday biofilms, a place list rather than a diagnosis. The number to keep beside that choice is 11. The atlas keeps 11 everyday meeting-points in view when you add skin, soil and medical-device surfaces to that short list, still as places, not as a care plan.
🧼 Does a healthy home have to be 100 percent sterile?
Does a healthy home have to be 100 percent sterile? Hygiene balance is targeted cleaning, not a house at 100 percent sterile. The number to keep beside that choice is 100. Skin and gut chapters already show resident communities, so chasing 100 as a score would erase the allies the atlas keeps.
🤲 Why do handwashing notes mention 20 seconds?
Why do handwashing notes mention 20 seconds? Twenty seconds with soap is a public hygiene scale for hands, not a treatment plan for a named illness. The number to keep beside that choice is 20. The number 20 sits next to norovirus notes because that virus is a surface-and-hand story, still education rather than a clinical order.
🔁 Can a gene move sideways instead of parent to child?
Can a gene move sideways instead of parent to child? Horizontal gene transfer moves DNA between neighbors, not only down a family tree. The number to keep beside that choice is 1928. Griffith’s 1928 experiment showed harmless bacteria picking up a trait from a killed neighbor, the classic sideways clue.
💍 What carries a resistance gene from one bacterium to another?
What carries a resistance gene from one bacterium to another? A plasmid is a small DNA circle that can move between bacteria, a common sideways vehicle. The number to keep beside that choice is 1952. Lederberg coined the word plasmid in 1952, so the resistance chapter and the transfer chapter share that vehicle rather than a mystery powder.
🫁 Is influenza a stomach illness?
Is influenza a stomach illness? Influenza is a respiratory virus, not a stomach infection. The number to keep beside that choice is 1918. The 1918 pandemic is the historical anchor on the influenza page, a respiratory chapter, not a gastric one.
⏱️ Is the 48-hour stomach bug influenza?
Is the 48-hour stomach bug influenza? A short stomach illness is usually a different virus, often in the norovirus chapter, not influenza. The number to keep beside that choice is 48. The folk label of 48 hours names a duration people remember, and it does not move that illness onto the influenza page.
🔬 Is tuberculosis a virus?
Is tuberculosis a virus? Tuberculosis is caused by a bacterium, a slow-growing member of the bacterial branch. The number to keep beside that choice is 1882. Koch presented that bacterium in 1882, which is why the encounter page sits with bacteria and not with viruses.
📚 Does the tuberculosis page hand out a treatment plan?
Does the tuberculosis page hand out a treatment plan? This lookup names the bacterium and the research history; it writes zero personal treatment plans. The number to keep beside that choice is 1943. Streptomycin’s discovery in 1943 is a date on that research timeline, not a regimen for a reader.
🧫 Is every E. coli the laboratory strain K12?
Is every E. coli the laboratory strain K12? K12 is a tame laboratory strain, not the name of every E. coli. The number to keep beside that choice is K12. The identity page keeps K12 on the lab shelf so a foodborne strain is not treated as the same biography.
🥩 Does the name E. coli mean the foodborne type?
Does the name E. coli mean the foodborne type? Most E. coli are ordinary gut residents; O157 is one strain with a different reputation. The number to keep beside that choice is 157. The digits 157 in that strain name are a label of one lineage, not a verdict on the whole species.
👃 Does Staphylococcus on skin always mean disease?
Does Staphylococcus on skin always mean disease? Staphylococcus is often a skin resident; carriage is not the same sentence as disease. The number to keep beside that choice is 30. Surveys often land near 30 percent of healthy adults for nasal carriage of S. aureus, a population figure, not a diagnosis of the reader.
🛡️ Is MRSA a separate kingdom from other staph?
Is MRSA a separate kingdom from other staph? MRSA is a resistance label on Staphylococcus aureus, not a new kingdom. The number to keep beside that choice is 1961. Methicillin arrived in the record in 1961, and the resistant label followed that drug’s name rather than a new branch of life.
🤏 Why do notes call norovirus contagious in small numbers?
Why do notes call norovirus contagious in small numbers? Norovirus is a virus whose infectious dose is discussed as very small, not a bacterium that needs a crowd. The number to keep beside that choice is 10. Lab discussions often place that dose near 10 viral particles, a scale of how little is enough in teaching, not a count from the reader’s hands.
🚪 Does norovirus vanish from a surface in an hour?
Does norovirus vanish from a surface in an hour? Norovirus is a hardy surface virus; an hour is the wrong clock. The number to keep beside that choice is 72. Teaching notes sometimes keep a 72-hour window in view as a scale of days, not a promise that a surface is then clear.
🔥 Is Helicobacter a stomach virus?
Is Helicobacter a stomach virus? Helicobacter is a bacterium that lives in the stomach, not a virus. The number to keep beside that choice is 1982. Marshall and Warren’s work in 1982 put that curved bacterium on the map, which is why the page sits with bacteria.
🏆 What clue lets Helicobacter live in stomach acid?
What clue lets Helicobacter live in stomach acid? Urease is the enzyme clue: it helps the bacterium buffer acid, a biology fact, not a home test to run. The number to keep beside that choice is 2005. The 2005 Nobel Prize recognized that stomach bacterium, which belongs in the frontiers chapter as history, not as a care instruction.
🔬 Why can a virus pass a filter that stops bacteria?
Why can a virus pass a filter that stops bacteria? Viruses are smaller than bacterial cells, so a filter that catches cells can still let virus particles through. The number to keep beside that choice is 1892. Ivanovsky’s 1892 filtration of tobacco mosaic disease is the historical clue that something smaller than bacteria remained infectious.
🧭 When a common name sounds like two kingdoms, where do I start?
When a common name sounds like two kingdoms, where do I start? Start with the identity section, then open Compare, which lines the branches up without diagnosing anyone. The number to keep beside that choice is 7. Every topic in this atlas has 7 sections, so the seventh click is a chapter, and Compare is the tool when the name still sounds like two shelves.
→ Antibiotic resistance: after “MRSA 1961”, what about “Stewardship idea”?
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus was reported in 1961, soon after methicillin entered clinics (1959). The UK Review on AMR projected up to 10 million deaths a year by 2050 if resistance were left unchecked — a scenario, not a census.
→ Archaea: after “Archaea are prokaryotes that are not bacteria”, what about “This atlas treats archaea as a tree-of-life branch, not a synony
Archaea are prokaryotes that are not bacteria. Ether lipids, distinct ribosomes and methanogenesis mark a domain Carl Woese peeled off the old 'bacteria' bag in 1977. Famous species love heat, acid or salt, but the domain also fills oceans and the human gut. No archaeon is a known human pathogen.
→ Bacteria: after “Bacteria are prokaryotes: DNA is not wrapped in a nucleus, ribos”, what about “This atlas treats bacteria as a tree of life
Bacteria are prokaryotes: DNA is not wrapped in a nucleus, ribosomes make protein, and many species build a peptidoglycan wall that Gram stain still uses as a first map. They invented photosynthesis, nitrogen fixation and fermentation long before animals existed. Most lineages never infect a human; a minority of specialists cause famous diseases. (1)
→ Bacteriophages: after “Bacteriophages are viruses that infect bacteria”, what about “Phage therapy exists as a concept and as limited clinic
Bacteriophages are viruses that infect bacteria. They are not cells, not human pathogens, and not a supermarket probiotic. Many tailed forms inject DNA and, in the lytic path, burst the host. They may be the most numerous biological particles on Earth. Bacteria remember them with CRISPR. People noticed them in 1915–1917, then built molecular biology on their backs.
→ Escherichia coli: after “Escherich 1885”, what about “K-12 workhorse”?
Theodor Escherich described Bacterium coli commune from infant stools in 1885. The genus later took his name. Shiga-toxin producing E. coli O157:H7 was tied to outbreaks in 1982 and to the 1993 Jack in the Box hamburger cluster.
→ Fermentation: after “Fermentation is how microbes finish sugars when oxygen is not th”, what about “This atlas treats fermentation as an all
Fermentation is how microbes finish sugars when oxygen is not the main electron sink — and how kitchens turn cabbage, soy and milk into kimchi, doenjang and yoghurt. Pasteur showed the vat is alive. Buchner later showed enzymes can work in a juice. Neither invented the jar already on the table.
→ Fungi: after “Fungi are eukaryotes with chitin walls that digest food outside ”, what about “This atlas treats fungi as a tree-of-life branc
Fungi are eukaryotes with chitin walls that digest food outside the cell. Yeasts, moulds and mushrooms are lifestyles inside one kingdom — not three unrelated pests. They invented much of terrestrial recycling and quietly feed plants through mycorrhizae. A minority cause athlete's foot, asthma flares or hospital mycoses.
→ Gut microbiome: after “The gut microbiome is a dense community — bacteria, archaea, vir”, what about “Germ-free animals showed the host deve
The gut microbiome is a dense community — bacteria, archaea, viruses, fungi — especially in the colon. Fibre is their main legal tender. Diversity beats any single ideal species list. This atlas refuses a shopping list of 'good germs'. Food patterns, not miracle capsules, do most of the everyday work — and none of this is a prescription.
→ Helicobacter pylori: after “Marshall and Warren”, what about “Korea prevalence”?
In 1982–84 Barry Marshall and Robin Warren linked a spiral gastric bacterium to gastritis, overturning acid-only ulcer dogma. They shared the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the Helicobacter pylori and peptic-ulcer work.
→ Horizontal gene transfer: after “Griffith 1928”, what about “That is why resistance genes can jump species in hospitals and f”?
Fred Griffith showed that a 'transforming principle' from heat-killed smooth pneumococci could change live rough cells in mice — history, not a protocol. Lederberg and Tatum showed E. coli can exchange genes by direct contact — conjugation in the textbook sense.
→ Hygiene and balance: after “Strachan 1989”, what about “ALEX farm studies”?
David Strachan noted less hay fever in larger families and coined the hygiene hypothesis in the BMJ. Graham Rook argued we need microbes we co-evolved with — not street dirt or a skipped vaccine.
→ Influenza: after “Orthomyxovirus”, what about “1918 pandemic”?
Influenza viruses are Orthomyxoviridae. Types A and B drive most human seasonal disease; A also has animal reservoirs. Influenza A has eight RNA segments, which is why reassortment can create new HA/NA subtype combinations.
→ Mutation and variants: after “RNA copy error”, what about “Quasispecies idea”?
Many RNA virus polymerases insert about 10^-3 to 10^-5 substitutions per site per round — far sloppier than typical DNA replication. Influenza drift is gradual HA/NA change; shift is rare reassortment that produced the 1957 H2N2 and 1968 H3N2 pandemic subtypes.
→ Nitrogen cycle: after “The nitrogen cycle is how life borrows an inert atmospheric gas”, what about “People knew legumes enrich soil before
The nitrogen cycle is how life borrows an inert atmospheric gas. Microbes fix N2, oxidise ammonia, and return N2 — a relay no animal invented. Haber-Bosch (1909–1913) added an industrial shortcut that now feeds billions and also leaks surplus nitrate and N2O.
→ Norovirus: after “Kapikian 1972”, what about “The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses adopted Norov”?
Albert Kapikian and colleagues saw the Norwalk agent by immune electron microscopy in 1972. Reviews often cite on the order of 10 to 100 particles — conceptually very low compared with many gut microbes.
→ Probiotics: after “Probiotics are live microbes taken in a claimed adequate dose fo”, what about “This atlas is not a shopping list and not
Probiotics are live microbes taken in a claimed adequate dose for a health benefit. The 2001 FAO/WHO sentence still rules honest labels. Strain codes matter more than aisle adjectives. A capsule is a handful of guests, not the gut microbiome. Yoghurt and kimchi are foods first. Effects, when real, are usually transient.
→ Protozoa: after “Protozoa is a classroom word for motile unicellular eukaryotes —”, what about “This atlas treats protozoa as a tree-of-life
Protozoa is a classroom word for motile unicellular eukaryotes — amoebae, flagellates, ciliates. They are not bacteria. Modern trees split them across several kingdoms. Most species live in soil and water and graze bacteria. A medically famous minority includes Plasmodium, trypanosomes and some amoebae. Those stories are geography and clinics, not pond-watching. (1)
→ Staphylococcus aureus: after “Ogston 1880s”, what about “Community MRSA”?
Surgeon Alexander Ogston named Staphylococcus from grape-like clusters in pus in the early 1880s. Aureus means golden. Many strains make a carotenoid pigment that helped the species name stick.
→ Tuberculosis: after “Koch 1882”, what about “BCG 1921”?
On 24 March 1882 Robert Koch announced the tubercle bacillus as the cause of tuberculosis. Infection is typically by inhaling droplet nuclei that linger in shared indoor air, not by casual outdoor passing.
→ Vaccines and immunity: after “Jenner 1796”, what about “Antibody classes”?
Edward Jenner published cowpox inoculation against smallpox in 1798 after 1796 experiments — the modern vaccine story's usual start. WHO declared smallpox eradicated in 1980 after a global vaccination campaign — the only human infectious disease so far.
→ Viruses: after “Viruses are not cells”, what about “This atlas treats viruses as a branch of the microbial world, no”?
Viruses are not cells. They are DNA or RNA genomes in protein coats — sometimes wrapped in a stolen membrane — that can make more of themselves only inside a living host. That host rule explains the whole public story: vaccines train recognition, antibiotics miss the target, and most viral lineages on Earth never notice a human being.
→ Archaea: after “Energy strategies range from hydrogen-eating methanogens to ligh”, what about “Cofactors (F420, methanopterin)”?
Energy strategies range from hydrogen-eating methanogens to light-using haloarchaea with bacteriorhodopsin. The membrane is both battery and identity card. CRISPR systems were first understood in archaea and bacteria as memories of viruses. That is information ecology, not a home-engineering lesson. (5)
→ Bacteria: after “Kitchens already run microbial factories: yoghurt, cheese, kimch”, what about “We can sequence a teaspoon of soil and meet
Kitchens already run microbial factories: yoghurt, cheese, kimchi, sourdough. The same word 'bacteria' covers dinner and disease because the tree is huge. Trying to bleach every surface is neither possible nor wise. Target high-risk moments: raw meat juices, toilets, wounds, hospital devices. (5)
→ Bacteriophages: after “Lysogeny is a truce: the phage genome rides along as the bacteri”, what about “Head (capsid)”?
Lysogeny is a truce: the phage genome rides along as the bacterium divides. UV or starvation can flip the switch to lysis. Description, not a recipe. When headlines say a phage 'evolved overnight', they mean huge numbers and tight host matching, not a cartoon villain.
→ Fungi: after “Sexual cycles in Ascomycota and Basidiomycota produce asci or ba”, what about “A kitchen already runs fungal factories: risen
Sexual cycles in Ascomycota and Basidiomycota produce asci or basidia. Many species also clone themselves for years without a mushroom. A stress-bearing mesh. Echinocandin drugs target glucan synthesis in some pathogens — clinic, not kitchen chemistry. (5)
→ Mutation and variants: after “SARS-CoV-2 added real-time genome dashboards”, what about “H3N2 Hong Kong flu”?
SARS-CoV-2 added real-time genome dashboards. The public learned lineage names that influenza scientists had used more quietly for decades. A reassortant H2N2 subtype replaced H1N1 in humans — a classic antigenic-shift pandemic.
→ Protozoa: after “Parasitic cycles can need a mosquito and a human, or a tsetse fl”, what about “Cyst or spore wait”?
Parasitic cycles can need a mosquito and a human, or a tsetse fly and a cow. Those maps are public-health geography, not laboratory recipes. Cysts let some species wait out dryness. Boiling or certified filters are the household language — not how to grow a parasite. (5)
→ Vaccines and immunity: after “Success against smallpox and near-success against polio sit besi”, what about “mRNA COVID shots”?
Success against smallpox and near-success against polio sit beside harder targets such as HIV and a universal flu shot. A public rabies vaccination of Joseph Meister becomes a founding legend of the lab-vaccine era. (5)
→ Viruses: after “Stanley crystallises TMV”, what about “HIV identified”?
Wendell Stanley crystallises tobacco mosaic virus, shocking biologists who thought 'alive' could not be a crystal. Jonas Salk's inactivated vaccine enters wide use; Albert Sabin's oral vaccine follows. Incidence collapses where campaigns hold.
→ Archaea: after “Methanobrevibacter smithii is a common human-gut archaeon that c”, what about “closing 1”?
Methanobrevibacter smithii is a common human-gut archaeon that consumes hydrogen and makes methane. That chemistry can shift how bacteria ferment fibre — ecology, not an infection label. Detecting archaeal DNA on skin or in hospitals usually means environmental cells or reagents, not an outbreak of 'archaeal plague'.
→ Bacteriophages: after “closing 1”, what about “Phage therapy — using phages against bacterial infection — is ex”?
This atlas will not discuss how to isolate, grow or engineer phages. The frontier questions below stay public and conceptual. Every millilitre of seawater and every gram of stool holds phages. They are part of the human microbiome as predators of our bacteria, not as human viruses.
→ Fungi: after “Invasive aspergillosis and cryptococcal meningitis matter in hos”, what about “Skin and mucosal yeasts”?
Invasive aspergillosis and cryptococcal meningitis matter in hospitals and in people with damaged immunity. They are not the median mushroom walk. Foraging is culture and risk management: identity first, never 'if animals eat it'. This page does not identify wild mushrooms for the table.
→ Protozoa: after “Drug research”, what about “They are not bacteria, not yeasts, not viruses”?
Antimalarials from quinine to artemisinin are history and ongoing resistance races — clinic-guided, not DIY. Protozoa is a useful classroom word for animal-like single cells: amoebae that crawl, flagellates that swim, ciliates that row with thousands of cilia. Modern trees split them across several eukaryotic kingdoms.
→ Vaccines and immunity: after “Some pathogens change too fast or hide too well for today's lice”, what about “Maternal antibody”?
Some pathogens change too fast or hide too well for today's licensed platforms. That is a research frontier, not a verdict against all vaccines. A childhood schedule is a public calendar stacked against diseases that once filled wards. Coverage numbers are civic, not a score of virtue. (9)
→ Viruses: after “Surface glycoproteins”, what about “Packaged enzymes (some)”?
Haemagglutinin, spike, gp120 — teaching names for locks that fit particular cells. They are also vaccine antigens. Protein synthesis is 100% host. That is why antibiotics aimed at bacterial 70S ribosomes do not 'treat a virus'.
→ Viruses: after “We can sequence an outbreak in days and still argue whether viru”, what about “What do giant viruses change?”?
We can sequence an outbreak in days and still argue whether viruses pre-date cells or escaped from them. Both stories have serious defenders. Public research also asks how to stay ahead of influenza and coronaviruses without turning every kitchen into a laboratory. This atlas stays on the question side.
→ Viruses: after “Chronic and latent carriage”, what about “A virus particle is not a cell”?
Herpesviruses and some hepatitis viruses persist. The host pays in immune surveillance; the virus pays in needing that host alive. Surviving or being vaccinated leaves antibodies and T cells. That memory is why second measles is rare in immune people. (17)