under the microscope in your body

[...]... on its head There, some tapeworms grow to 20 feet (6 meters) long! Some smaller tapeworms can travel anywhere in the body through the bloodstream They can get into muscles, eyes, and even the brain Most worms arrive in your body in food or water, but a hookworm enters by burrowing into your skin as a larva They get into the bloodstream, then into the intestine The adult worm, about 0.4 inches (10 millimeters)... part of the body they call home This could be the oil on your skin or the food in your stomach 10 Good bacteria Bacteria can be very useful as they process their food in fact, we couldn’t live without them Out in the world, they digest waste, such as dead plants, and turn it into nutrients Inside your body, many bacteria help digest your food Groups of bacteria inside your body and on your skin also... home to more bacteria than any other part of your body Follow the food After you swallow your food, it heads down a tube called the esophagus to get to your stomach Your food is churned up, or digested, in the stomach and then processed further in the small intestine The small intestine extracts nutrients from the food and passes them into the bloodstream 20 The colon gets the food next By this time, what’s... trypanosomes, and they cause sleeping sickness The green threads are their flagella Protozoa, such as these Giardia lambia, can live in the small intestine Giardia lock onto the intestine wall with suckers and feed there Unfortunately, they can make you very sick, too! Digesting Your Food If you’re looking for bacteria, you can be sure to find them in your colon The colon is also called the large intestine, and... spread The newly made viruses emerge from the host and go on to infect other cells Viruses can travel in your blood to infect other cells in your body They can leave your body in a sneeze or a cough and travel through the air to infect other people Viruses can also be carried around by insects cell How Small Is Small? Effects of viruses Viruses destroy the cells they invade when they multiply As they... get the immune system working, but not enough to make us sick The vaccine makes the immune system produce antibodies that will protect the body in the future Intestinal flora (the small green dashes) are battling against Salmonella bacteria (the red shapes) that are trying to attack the intestinal wall (blue) The flora are part of the body s defense against sickness Antibiotics “Antibiotic” is the. .. shows clusters of bacteria (pink) living on the intestinal wall 21 Worm Host The mass of white-colored roundworms above was found in a section of intestine The larvae of these worms can leave the intestine and travel around the body, causing sickness As you read earlier, parasites are organisms that survive in or on a host by feeding off it Some parasites in the human body are animals It’s hard to... containing lumps of stuff your body can’t digest The colon absorbs the liquid for your body to use The rest will be turned into waste that leaves your body when you go to the bathroom But first, the good bacteria in your colon will go to work Micro-Fact About 30 percent of your feces (poop) consists of bacteria from your colon Bacteria at work These good bacteria are often called intestinal flora They... food your stomach can’t handle For example, vegetables and fruits contain nutrients we need but can’t process ourselves The bacteria in our colon release the nutrients for us as they feed on these foods Bacteria have other jobs in the colon, too As they feed, they produce acids and other substances that stop bad bacteria multiplying Intestinal flora even make vitamins for your body! A peek into the. .. Small? Pinworms By the time you turn twelve, it’s likely you’ll have had some pinworms living in you They feed on bacteria that live in digested food This is the stuff that has Pinworms can be up to 0.5 inches (13 millimeters) long So when they come out to lay their eggs, they are visible to the human eye 22 passed through the colon and is ready to leave your body Yes, pinworms are worms that live in your . you see there your hair, your eyes, and the shape of your body. But you probably don’t spend much time thinking about the inside of your body. Nor do you put your body under the microscope. the only thing living in your body, but you are not! An incredible number of microscopic living things inhabit your body along with you. Organisms are living things, and living things too. (Raia). Contents The World Inside You 4 Cells Under the Microscope 6 A Look at DNA and Genes 8 Bacteria in the Body 10 A Layer of Skin 12 Life on Your Head 14 Inside Your Mouth 16 Into the Bloodstream