Survive and Reproduce

It amazed me to realize how many other little microscopic organisms coexist in our bodies. While I was aware of their existence, mostly every time I got sick, it never hit me until reading Survival of the Sickest. Sharon Moalem reveals, “not only do these former bacteria live in almost all your cells, they even have their own inheritable DNA” (129). This reminded me how in the introduction he mentions that even laying on our bed there are thousands of living organisms around and inside of you. It scared me to realize that some of these microbes can alter one’s nervous system, through host manipulation, in order to survive and reproduce. It is not like as if they are hijacking our nervous system and completely changing it but rather they manipulate it for their own survival. These microbes can be harmless in some but may be harmful for others. Moalem states that some scientist hypothesizes that T. gondii may trigger schizophrenia in people. It that is confirmed then we will be able to find a way to treat those with schizophrenia. Nevertheless, I still find it shocking that little microbes can affects us not only physically but also mentally.

Each organism’s goal is for survival of their gene’s and reproduction. Moalem mentions that if we figure out the ways parasites spread and we find ways to impede this spreading, like cleaning up the water systems or putting up mosquito nets, they will become less deadly to the host because it is harder for them to spread and infect others. What confuses me is how do they know that their means of reaching other hosts is thwarted and how can they tell that they need to stay in this host longer in order to survive? Moalem mentions that they do not have brains, and I do not believe that they can see things in a grand scale, so how is it that using these preventative methods stopping them? I suppose they can realize that they are not spreading pathogens to other host but without a brain how is that possible?