Science Questions

They say there’s something called fight bite which happens when people get bitten by other people. They get a bad infection. What’s that all about? Troy McLuhan, Second Life

We put this question to Marcello Riggio:

Bacteria can easily be transmitted through bites.  Bacteria in the oral cavity are designed to stay there, actually.  They can get to other parts of the body and cause more serious diseases.  If one were able to transmit some of these more opportunistic oral bacteria to other body sites then yes, they can cause serious infections.

May 2008