Microorganism: A living thing too small to see without a microscope
Bacteria: Single-celled organisms with no nucleus; some are helpful, some cause disease
Virus: A tiny particle that needs a host cell to reproduce
Is a virus alive?: Scientists usually say no; it cannot reproduce on its own
Fungus: An organism that absorbs nutrients, like mold or yeast
Yeast: A single-celled fungus used in baking
Mold: A fuzzy fungus that grows on food and damp places
Mushroom: The fruiting body of some fungi
Protist: A mostly single-celled eukaryote, like an amoeba
Amoeba: A protist that moves with pseudopods
Paramecium: A slipper-shaped protist covered in cilia
Euglena: A protist that can make food and swim with a flagellum
Algae: Simple organisms that make food from sunlight, found in water
Plankton: Tiny organisms that drift in water
Phytoplankton: Plant-like plankton that make food from sunlight
Zooplankton: Animal-like plankton
Pathogen: A germ that causes disease
Infection: When germs enter the body and multiply
Antibiotic: Medicine that kills bacteria
Do antibiotics work on viruses?: No
Vaccine: Prepares the body to fight a specific germ
Antibody: A protein the body makes to attack a germ
Immunity: The body's ability to resist a disease
Contagious: Able to spread from one person to another
Quarantine: Keeping sick people apart to stop disease from spreading
Sterilize: Kill all microbes on an object
Pasteurization: Heating a food to kill harmful germs
Who developed pasteurization and early vaccines?: Louis Pasteur
Who discovered penicillin in 1928?: Alexander Fleming
Who first built a smallpox vaccine in 1796?: Edward Jenner
Germ theory: The idea that microbes cause many diseases
Fermentation: Microbes turning sugars into other substances, as in bread and yogurt
Probiotic: Helpful bacteria that live in the gut and some foods
Gut bacteria: Helpful microbes in the intestines that help digest food
Decomposers: Microbes and fungi that break down dead things
Binary fission: How bacteria reproduce by splitting in two
Capsid: The protein coat of a virus
Host: An organism a germ or parasite lives in or on
Parasite: An organism that lives on or in another and harms it
Tapeworm: A parasite that lives in intestines
Tick: A tiny arachnid that can carry germs
Mosquito-borne disease: malaria: Caused by a parasite spread by mosquitoes
Strep throat: An illness caused by bacteria
Common cold: An illness caused by viruses
Influenza: The flu, caused by a virus
Athlete's foot: A skin infection caused by a fungus
Why wash hands?: Soap lifts germs off the skin so they rinse away
How should you cover a cough?: Into your elbow or a tissue
Petri dish: Dish used to grow microbes in labs
Agar: Jelly-like food used to grow microbes in a dish
Colony: A visible group of microbes grown from one cell
Spirillum: A spiral-shaped bacterium
Bacillus: A rod-shaped bacterium
Coccus: A round bacterium
Lichen: A partnership between a fungus and an alga
Mycorrhiza: A partnership between fungus and plant roots
Penicillium: A mold that gave us the first antibiotic
Flagellum on bacteria: A whip-like tail used to swim
Spore: A tough cell that survives bad conditions and can grow later
Endospore: A hardy dormant form made by some bacteria
Epidemic: A disease that spreads quickly in a community
Pandemic: A disease that spreads across many countries

Free flashcards from Peabody at peabody.kids/flashcards/bio-microbes