Scientists find 'vampire' bacteria that has a thirst for HUMAN blood trends now
Deadly bacteria of the world have been found to seek and feast on human blood.
Researchers at Washington State University (WSU) uncovered a new trait called 'bacterial vampirism' among bacteria like Salmonella and E. coli, which cause foodborne illnesses.
It has long been a mystery to how and why these microorganisms can move so deftly from the gut to the blood where they can be deadly.
The team found that these bacteria are attracted to the liquid part of blood, or serum, which contains nutrients the bacteria can use as food.
The pathogens can easily find where the serum is and enter the bloodstream through small cuts in the digestive system, which sometimes causes death from sepsis in people with inflammatory bowel disease.
Even the tiniest amount of blood is enough to attract vampiric bacteria, much like sharks with their famous ability to detect one drop of blood in 10 billion drops of water.
Washington State University researcher Arden Baylink holds a petri dish containing salmonella bacteria. Baylink and PhD student Siena Glenn have published research showing that some of the world's deadliest bacteria seek out and eat serum, the liquid part of human blood, which contains nutrients the bacteria can use as food
Bacteria like E. coli can leak into the bloodstream through lesions in the gut of people with inflammatory bowel disease, causing serious complications
Co-author Arden Baylink, a professor at WSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine, said in a statement: 'Bacteria infecting the bloodstream can be lethal.
'We learned some of the bacteria that most commonly cause bloodstream infections actually sense a chemical in human blood and swim toward it.'
According to the new study, published in the journal eLife, enterobacteria like E. coli and Salmonella can detect as little as a femtoliter of serum - a tiny quantity equal to 0.0000000000001 milliliters.
Once they find the cut that's leaking the blood into the gut, they crowd around it and enter it.
It's a lot like how sharks can search out prey
