While doing some research for another blog post, I came across a website for a company that makes private-label bottled water. One section of the site described the different kinds of bacteria such as aerobes which need oxygen to survive, strict anaerobes which are killed in the presence of oxygen, and facultative anaerobes which usually prefer oxygen but can survive without it if necessary.
So far so good. However, the next paragraph reads as
follows:
The most virulent and
destructive pathogens that affect mankind generally fall into the “strict
anaerobe” category. They include bacteria like Staphylococcus aureus,
Streptococcus pneumoniae, Clostridium botulinum and Escherichia coli.
This is wrong. Except for Clostridium botulinum, the
organism that causes botulism, the other bacteria are aerobic. Staphylococcus
aureus can be nasty, particularly if it's methicillin-resistant (MRSA), but
Streptococcus pneumoniae is not particularly virulent, and Escherichia coli,
while a common cause of wound infections after bowel surgery, is part of the
normal flora of the large intestine.
As wrong as that bacteriology lesson was, it pales in
comparison to a more than 700 word essay
on why you should drink warm water instead of cold.
If you have a few minutes, you should read it because nearly
every sentence contains misinformation. Let me share a few of the highlights
with you.
