Rectal Bacteria

[The Mad Hatter]

I'll be fairly concise here - how does E. Coli get into our intestines?

 

[baron]

You eat it

 

[fuelair]

You eat it

That's one way.

 

[Soapy Sam]

Maybe we acquire our gut flora from our mother? Before birth, I mean.

 

[casebro]

Maybe we acquire our gut flora from our mother? Before birth, I mean.

No, there is no intestinal link between mother and child. There may be e coli in the womb though, it's everywhere else in the world. But I think Baron has it right.

 

[Lisa Simpson]

According to that font of internet knowledge, Wikipedia:

As soon as an infant is born, bacteria begin colonizing its digestive tract. The first bacteria to settle in are able to affect the immune response, making it more favorable to their own survival and less so to competing species; thus the first bacteria to colonize the gut are important in determining the person's lifelong gut flora makeup. However, there is a shift at the time of weaning from predominantly facultative aerobic species such as Streptococci and Escherichia coli to mostly obligate anaerobic species.

 

[Aerik]

casebra, the umbilical cord goes to the stomach - which is only a hop away from the intestines, and in addition the vessels where the connection is made forms a delta. Indeed, it is fact that all the symbiotic bacteria we hold in our intestines that help us digest and we cannot live without are inherited in this way.

 

[athon]

We're not born with our full colonisation of microflora. Amniotic fluid is essentially sterile - thankfully - and it's this which the foetus consumes during its time in the womb.

On leaving the womb, it picks up the more common microflora in its immediate environment, mostly skin microflora from its mother. Most won't survive the conditions of the gut, selecting for coliform bacteria such as E.coli. The fact children put everything in their mouth helps to get a range of gut microflora, but as Lisa quoted, there can be problems if virile pathogens are consumed in the process.

Athon

 

[joobz]

According to that font of internet knowledge, Wikipedia:

As soon as an infant is born, bacteria begin colonizing its digestive tract. The first bacteria to settle in are able to affect the immune response, making it more favorable to their own survival and less so to competing species; thus the first bacteria to colonize the gut are important in determining the person's lifelong gut flora makeup. However, there is a shift at the time of weaning from predominantly facultative aerobic species such as Streptococci and Escherichia coli to mostly obligate anaerobic species.

Is that what makes baby poop transition from smelling like butter milk to smelling like.....ewwwwwwwwwww

 

[Slimething]

casebra, the umbilical cord goes to the stomach - which is only a hop away from the intestines, and in addition the vessels where the connection is made forms a delta. Indeed, it is fact that all the symbiotic bacteria we hold in our intestines that help us digest and we cannot live without are inherited in this way.

Aerik, I believe that the umbilicus connects to the fetal circulatory system, not the GI tract. Also, e. coli would have to be transferred from the blood-enriched placental lining to the fetus' circulatory system via the umbilicus. Then the bacteria would have to somehow selectively travel to the fetus' intestines.

Do you have any evidence that e. coli are transferred to the fetus' gut in this way?

 

[fls]

casebra, the umbilical cord goes to the stomach - which is only a hop away from the intestines, and in addition the vessels where the connection is made forms a delta. Indeed, it is fact that all the symbiotic bacteria we hold in our intestines that help us digest and we cannot live without are inherited in this way.

Those statements are incorrect. The umbilical cord does not go to the stomach or the intestines. We do not normally carry bacteria in our blood. Bacteria that colonize the gut do not arrive through the blood. We do not need bacteria in our intestines in order to digest food.

Linda

 

[blutoski]

casebra, the umbilical cord goes to the stomach - which is only a hop away from the intestines, and in addition the vessels where the connection is made forms a delta. Indeed, it is fact that all the symbiotic bacteria we hold in our intestines that help us digest and we cannot live without are inherited in this way.

The umbilical cord does not expose the stomach, and the umbilical cord does not share blood with the mother. It connects to the placenta, where substances cross membranes that act as a barrier between mother and infant.

Furthermore: if the mother had E. coli in her blood supply, she'd be near death. Remember: blood vessels are inside the body, bowel surface is outside the body.

Intestinal flora is ingested after birth.

 

[Goshawk]

Is that what makes baby poop transition from smelling like butter milk to smelling like.....ewwwwwwwwwww

No. What makes baby poo smell so bad is when they start eating meat, even in tiny pureed baby-food amounts. Digesting milk products alone is a comparatively non-odiferous procedure, but digesting meat is pretty stinky.

 

[Soapy Sam]

Furthermore: if the mother had E. coli in her blood supply, she'd be near death. Remember: blood vessels are inside the body, bowel surface is outside the body.

You're either a topologist at heart, or you smell bad.

 

[joobz]

No. What makes baby poo smell so bad is when they start eating meat, even in tiny pureed baby-food amounts. Digesting milk products alone is a comparatively non-odiferous procedure, but digesting meat is pretty stinky.

Are you claiming that vegan's poop don't stink?
that doesn't smell right to me.

 

[casebro]

No. What makes baby poo smell so bad is when they start eating meat, even in tiny pureed baby-food amounts. Digesting milk products alone is a comparatively non-odiferous procedure, but digesting meat is pretty stinky.

So why do cow droppings smell? Horse dung, rabbit terds, I think you get a whiff of my point.

 

[meg]

I don't think the smell changes when they start eating meat, I think it's when they start eating solid food.

And, while it's not particularly pleasing, I would say that horse, cow, and rabbit poops are far better smelling than the average human's.

 

[joobz]

I don't think the smell changes when they start eating meat, I think it's when they start eating solid food.

And, while it's not particularly pleasing, I would say that horse, cow, and rabbit poops are far better smelling than the average human's.

I've noticed you didn't mention chicken or pig.

ewwwww!

My wife had a soils class where she brought home little dime bag samples of manure. definitely gave me the jibblies.

jibblies jibblies jibblies.

 

[meg]

Well, actually, I would say the same thing about chicken and pig poo. They just weren't in casebro's examples.

 

[joobz]

Well, actually, I would say the same thing about chicken and pig poo. They just weren't in casebro's examples.

Oh god, you have to be kidding me. Those smells get into your brain and never leave. Perhaps we should conduct a double blinded smell test.