MICRO-ORGANISMS

Micro-organisms are living thing which are too small to be seen without a microscope.
a microscopic organism, especially a bacterium, virus, or fungus.

BACTERIA
Bacteria are unicellular organisms. They vary in size. They are larger than viruses
but smaller than microscopic fungi .Bacteria have one of the three following shapes:
rod, spiral and spherical .Bacterial cell does not have a nucleus. It has a single
loop of DNA. It also has a cell wall which protect and prevent it from drying up.
Some bacteria have flagella {thread like tails} to help them move. A bacterial colony
consist of millions of bacteria and it is visible to the naked eyes.

BACTERIAL DISEASES: Bacteria are the cause of many plagues. Some bacterial diseases
are: meningitis, cholera, diphtheria, leprosy, tuberculosis, typhoid fever and
whooping cough.

MICROSCOPIC FUNGI
Mushrooms, toadstools ,yeasts and mould are all fungi. Some type of fungi such as
yeast and mould are micro-organisms.

Yeasts are unicellular microscopic fungi. It consist of a cell membrane, nucleus,

cytoplasm and vacuole. It has a cell wall made of chitin. Yeasts cell are larger than
bacterial cell.

FUNGAL DISEASES
Fungi cause diseases in plants and animals .RINGWORMS and YEAST INFECTION.

VIRUSES
Colds, flu and many other diseases are caused by viruses. Viruses are microscopic
particles made up of DNA surrounded by a protective coating of protein. They cannot
reproduce by themselves. They can only reproduce by invading or taking over living
cells .that is the one reason why they are not classified as living things.Viruses
takes over the cell and makes many new copies of themselves.the new viruses burst out
the host cell , killing the host cell in the processthen the new viruses then go on
to infect other cell in the organism.Viruuses are smaller than bacteria and cannot
be observed with an ordinary microscope . A special type of microscope called
“electron microscope”is used to see them.
 VIRAL DISEASES
Common cold, influenza ,AIDS, chicken pox, small pox, rabies, rubella, yellow fever
and SARS.

USES OF MICRO-ORGANISMS
-Bacteria and fungi are important decomposers

Break down dead and waste matter into simple substances

Help to recycle nutrients in the environment

Human beings also uused micro-organisms to make products such as food and medicines.

Used them in manuufactuuring or induusrial processes