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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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From:
James Fischer <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Fri, 11 Oct 2013 22:23:23 -0400
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>  note: the following refers to bacteria, but
> would no doubt apply to fungal pathogens as well

The use of the phrase "no doubt" prompts me to ask for the evidence that
would remove all doubt.
Without evidence, we have nothing but doubt.

But it seems a very big stretch to attempt to draw inferences from bacteria
and apply them to fungi.  There are a number of very good books that go into
extreme detail on the stark differences between bacteria and fungi, but they
are so distinctly different in so many ways, that the first and most basic
taxonomic division one makes in classifying all life is to differ between
Prokaryotes (Bacteria), Eukaryotes, (everything else except viruses), and
Viruses.

I travel a lot, so I've picked up both minor bacterial and fungal infections
here and there.  As a result, I can say this with certainty -  Fungal
infections are far, far more difficult to treat than bacteriological ones.
Fungi are eukaryotic, as humans are, so they are far less easy for drugs to
kill without collateral damage to the host human.

Bacteria are prokaryotes. Much, much simpler than eukaryotes.   Some
antibiotics attack the "peptidoglycan layer" in the bacteria cell wall.  As
eukaryotic cells do not have equivalent structures, there is almost no
"collateral damage" to human cells. Metabolic pathways in bacteria are
targeted by other types of antibiotics, something else that is very
different between prokaryotes and eukaryotes. The metabolisms of fungi and
humans are much more similar, so again, you have a collateral damage problem
when trying to kill fungi.

===============
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