Both the bear and the spirochete need to eat. However, predators like bears devour their prey from the outside, while disease organisms like spirochetes nibble on their victims from the inside. This means that not everyone who attends the ongoing ecological dinner party is having a good time. The imbiber (the bear and the spirochete) enjoy themselves. It is not as much fun for the prey (the salmon and your intestines).

                Disease is a competitive interaction between us and microorganisms. Victory either accrues to the attackers or the attacked. As long as an organism’s immune system is intact, it can coexist with, or defeat its invaders. The symptoms of disease don’t occur until the disease arms race is no longer balanced. Victory goes to the attackers. The host is defeated.

                Two additional facts of significance:

                l. We humans depend upon the microbes that inhabit our bodies to maintain our health.

2. While we are skilled at satisfying our appetites by killing plants and animals without becoming meals for other organisms, we remain vulnerable      to disease.   

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