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You already know a lot of things that your body welcomes—water, vitamins, daily foot massages. And you’re surely familiar with some of the things most destructive to your body—cocaine, tanning beds, and bacon-and-sausage sandwiches. But there’s a whole family of invisible threats to your body that are out to make your life miserable, or worse.

BACTERIA Though their reputations are worse than those of crooked politicians, bacteria are a necessary part of our lives. In fact, we can’t live without bacteria—they help us digest food; they add nutrients to our food choices before we even eat them; and good bacteria help keep the bad bacteria out. And bacteria grown at pharmaceutical companies have been trained to help make many substances, like beer, and useful drugs, like human growth hormone. But just as with breakfast cereals, as many bad kinds as good kinds are out there. Bacteria, which are single-cell organisms, are neither plants nor animals. They’re actually very prehistoric organisms that lack the subtle architecture of human cells—namely, they don’t even have a nucleus (the brain of our cells). In terms of size, about a thousand bacteria fit into 1 millimeter—about the thickness of a dime. Bacteria have the ability to replicate themselves—and that replication is what causes an infection. The result, like pimples or strep throat, can be treated with antibiotics designed to kill the bacteria (a throat culture or rapid diagnostic test can often determine whether a sore throat is caused by a bacteria or a virus). Bacterial infections can also be sexually transmitted, as in the case of chlamydia—one of the most common bacterial infections, which actually has no symptoms in 75 percent of people who have it. Any bacterial infection left untreated or under-treated, even if you have no symptoms, can cause chronic inflammation as our body aggressively responds—and that promotes aging of your arteries and your immune system. The other worry with many of these kinds of infections is that, if left untreated, they can wear down your immune system and cause more permanent damage to your organs. Uncontrolled strep infections, for example, can lead to abscesses in the tonsils, and associated breathing problems, as well as cause long-term damage to the heart and kidneys.

VIRUS Many people distinguish between bacteria and viruses by treatment: bacteria respond to antibiotics; viruses don’t. But that’s not entirely true—there are many antiviral medications for AIDS. The main differences between the two types of organism have to do with their structure, size, and function. Bacteria are complex cells that have the ability to replicate themselves; viruses are about a hundred times times smaller, much simpler on a cellular level, and without the tools to replicate themselves. Viruses, which can be transmitted by hand-to-hand or mouth-to-mouth contact (the common cold) as well as sexually (HIV), need you in order to replicate. A virus works by invading one of your cells and hijacking it—essentially taking over its genetic code. When the virus uses the good cell’s replication machinery, it’s like the virus has gone to Kinko’s and made millions of copies to send all throughout your bloodstream (the so-called e-mail viruses have been thus named because of this property—some are able to send a message to all your friends in your address book).
The most common virus is the common cold, which is actually caused by several different families of viruses. Even though you may experience upper-respiratory symptoms associated with a bacterial infection, most cases of the common cold are not caused by bacteria—making antibiotics useless against the fight. If the illness persists, you might have attracted bacteria secondarily as a result of the virus weakening you; the typical sign of a secondary bacterial infection is producing unusually thick, colored mucus or sputum from your nose or throat when you cough or blow your nose. The vast majority of viral cold infections do run their course and exit your body via the portholes most associated with blowing, sneezing, and coughing. Antibiotics—when taken for viral infection—can actually have a negative effect by killing only the susceptible bacteria and allowing the more dangerous resistant strains to gain a stronger foothold. This reinforces the point that you should stop pestering your doctor for antibiotics if you’re told that your condition is a virus. While it may have some sort of placebo effect, it’s actually not helping you—and may even harm you, unless you actually have a bacterial infection on top of your viral one.

The flu virus, like a high school friend who wants to crash on your couch, makes your life miserable for a few days and then hightails it out of there. Others, like mononucleosis, which makes you extremely tired, take a little longer to run their course. Still others, like the herpes virus, figure out a way to survive and be quiet within the body, but then flare up occasionally (cold sores come and go). Even stranger: shingles. Even though you may have had chicken pox as a child, this virus (it’s the same one) can affect a nerve root in your spine many years later to cause the intense pain associated with this weird ailment.
Other infections change the way you live. The Epstein-Barr virus, for example, attacks your liver and causes infectious mononucleosis with a spleen swollen with immune cells ready for battle. One of the weaknesses of viruses is that in order for a virus to invade a cell, it needs some mode of transportation—it needs a chemical transporter to take it there. Latest therapies for viruses focus on blocking the transporter so the virus can’t get into the cells. It’s one of the reasons why Magic Johnson has lived so long with HIV, but has not developed AIDS—congenitally, he’s missing one of the receptors that would normally help the virus to invade his cells.

OTHERS Two other organisms that challenge your immune system are parasites and fungi. Parasites need another organism to live off of, so they require something from you to survive and to replicate themselves. In the case of tapeworm, it lives in your intestine—and can grow up to twenty-two feet long (about the height of a two-story building). Parasites are most common in unsanitary food and poor water supplies and are responsible for 4 billion cases of diarrhea around the world every year—bad news for everyone (except maybe Charmin). Fungi, which are about a hundred times bigger than bacteria, are actually primitive vegetables; they’re small plants without chlorophyll that can’t make their own food, but can get it from other organisms, like your toenails. Some fungi we eat, like mushrooms and the yeast in bread. And since their natural enemies are the bacteria, they naturally produce antibiotics such as penicillin that we can take to protect ourselves. But some can also cause ailments like athlete’s foot and vaginal infections, both of which can be treated with medication that kills or renders weak the infection-causing fungus.

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