all the anthrax stuff on the news made me think of something…
I recall having heard, or read, a long time ago, that there are some bacteria and germs, that are just as “bad” (or worse) when they’re dead, as they are when the micro-organisms are living. Is this true?
There are some bacteria that produce a toxin that is harmful even if the bacteria are dead - botulism for one. Maybe that’s what you are recalling.
LPS - lipopolysaccaride - is a component of some bacterial cell walls. Since it is a singel molecule, it can remain intact when bacteria die, and can be isoalted from bacteria. In and of itself, it is harmless, but it initiates a massive, destructive, and sometimes fatal immune response, aka toxic shock.
You also may be thinking of spores, which are dormant, very tough “bacteria eggs”. When some bacteria sense hard times a’comin’, they create spores, which can hunker down for the winter and regerminate when things are better again. They’re not really dead, of course, but they’re very very stable. There’s a lab somewhere or other that has a sample of botulism spores from over a hundred years ago. Every decade or so, they pull out a few and see if they can still grow again. So far so good. Anthrax, incidentally, is another spore-former.