Water Could Slow the Movement of Bacteria Microbes in the Body

Although only less than one percent of bacteria are harmful, humans are still fall ill with bacterial infections fairly often. Additionally, some bacteria are helpful and participate in various bodily functions. A new study has shown how water can assist in helping bacteria in the body.

The new findings, published in the journal Nature Physics by Roberto Rusconi (postdoc MIT), Jeffrey Guasto (postdoc MIT), and Roman Stocker (associate professor at MIT), revealed that the flow of water (1) quenches the ability of microbes to chase food and; (2) helps microbes attach to surfaces. They believe their findings could have implications for both the study of marine ecosystems as well as how infections take hold in medical devices.

The researchers acknowledged that most previous studies don't address microorganism behavior in flowing liquid, which is particularly startling since it could very well affect the microbes. They found that the swimming bacteria manage to cluster in the regions where the speed of the fluid changes most abruptly - areas known as "high shear zones". This finding can help provide insight for the design of medical equipment to reduce various bacterial infections, the researchers say.

However, the concentration of the bacterial microbes in the "high shear zones" is only applicable to the microbes that can control their movements. Nonliving bacteria as well as non-motile bacteria are simply swept along by the water. It is believed that the movement of various microbes could also help find answers for those studying microbial marine ecosystems. Despite only studying two types of bacteria, the researchers think that this information can be used to determine how bacteria move in search of nutrients in these ecosystems.

But perhaps most importantly, the findings of the study were of a huge surprise to Mr. Roman Stocker, who is an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at MIT.

"My own earlier predictions of what would happen when microbes swim in flowing water had been: 'Nothing too interesting,'" he said in this EurekAlert! article. "It was only when Roberto and Jeff did the experiments that we found this very strong and robust phenomenon."

So it's certainly significant that these three men were on the same team or else the discovery might have not been made. More research must be conducted, but the found information is of great value. To read more, visit the EurekAlert! article mentioned above.