Documented Growth Of Bacteria And Biofilms

Bacteria are very simple unicellular organisms that are highly adaptive and thrive in extreme conditions including hot springs that are 120 degrees celcius or even at nuclear power plants, Deinococcus radiodurans thrives in radiation. Halophines are a breed of bacteria that are salt lovers and thrive in the Dead Sea where the salinity is so high no plants or fish survive. Deep inside the earth bacteria has been found that do not need light to survive.  Cyanobacteria are considered the first step of the food chain and make their own photosynthesis. Anaerobic bacteria can thrive without oxygen.

“Bacteria are the fastest growing life on earth and they exist in enormous numbers everywhere on this planet. Bacteria are absolutely necessary for life on earth but they are also very dangerous. They are the reason for some of our most severe diseases,” said Peder Worning, Bioinformation at Hvidovre Hospital, PhD at the Department Of Clinical Microbiology and The University Of Copenhagen. 

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Worning says, “The fastest growing organisms known to man is Clostridium perfringens. Given the right conditions it has a regeneration time of six minutes, 20 seconds. This means that one cell can become 1,000 in one hour and three minutes and a million in one hour three minutes, a billion in three hours ten minutes. Things move fast in the bacterial world.”

Thomas Bjarnsholt, professor of Health and Medical Sciences of the University Of Copenhagen says, “The phenomenon of aggregation (of bacteria) is termed biofilms. It’s bacteria on top of bacteria, layers upon layers. Normal life of bacteria are in aggregates (of biofilm), this is how bacteria live in the environment. Very few bacteria live in the plutonic mode and probably only for a short while, while they on their way to settle into a new biofilm.”

Bjarnsholt says, “We have approximately more than ten times more bacteria than human cells in our body. Most, if not all, are situated in biofilms, everywhere on the human body with the exception of the blood, organs and brain. These areas are free of bacteria when we are healthy.”

Normally, bacteria are eaten by our own white blood cells. When bacteria aggregate they form biofilms and create problems because neither the white blood cells nor antibiotics can kill the bacteria. Bjarnsholt says, “They become tolerant or persistent. If unwanted bacteria form a biofilm in the human body it can not be treated (with antibiotics) and you will have a chronic infection.”

Stephen Elek published a study in 1956, Experimental Staphylococcal Infections In The Skin of Man (Ann, NY Academy of Sci. 1956 Aug 31:65(3):85-90). He took one group of people and injected around 7.5 million Staphylococcus aureus bacteria onto the skin. The second group had a much less number of 100 Staphylococcus aureus bacteria injected onto the skin but also had a small mesh applied. In the group that received the larger injection roughly half of the participants developed an infection which effectively resolved on their own with no assistance.  In the smaller injection group all of the volunteers experienced an infection, none of which resolved on their own.

In the second group it was necessary to remove the mesh, which acted as the protective biofilm layer, in order to kill off the bacteria.

Bjarnsholt said, “The bacteria formed a persistent biofilm on the mesh which the immune defense could not remove. The immune defense removed all the material in group one. This really pinpoints that if a few bacteria are able to settle into a biofilm, we have a problem.”

A biofilm is a collection of bacteria that collects and grows layer up on layer building upon itself as a protective community. The bacteria in the biofilm itself are bound together by a matrix, a strung connection of bacteria connected together. The matrix is made up of extracellular DNA, proteins, polysaccharides or similar molecues.

The number of layers that make up the biofilm is unknown. “In most chronic infections we find very small biofilms, 5 micrometers in diameter. All chronic infections seem to involve biofilms 

If biofilms are a challenge this product is highly praised by practitioners for breaking up biofilms. Allicin is also beneficial. In more aggressive cases working with a knowledgeable practitioner is important where specific enema protocols are highly beneficial.

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*Nourishing Plot is written by Becky Plotner, ND, traditional naturopath, GAPS who sees clients in Rossville, Georgia. Since her son was delivered from the effects of autism (Asperger’s syndrome), ADHD, bipolar disorder/manic depression, hypoglycemia and dyslexia through food she continued her education specializing in Leaky Gut and parasitology through Duke University, finishing with distinction. This is not a news article published by a paper trying to make money. This blog is put out by a mom who sees first hand the effects of nourishing food vs food-ish items. No company pays her for writing these blogs, she considers this a form of missionary work. It is her desire to scream it from the rooftops so that others don’t suffer from the damaging effect of today’s “food”.

Peder Worning and Thomas Bjarnsholt lectured online through The University Of Copenhagen June 24, 2015.