Some types of Bacillus are harmful to humans while other types of Bacillus are not harmful to humans.
Bacillus coagulans (B. coagulans) is a type of probiotic ("good" bacteria).
It isn't naturally found in the body, but it produces lactic acid in the gut.
Some types of Bacillus bacteria are harmful to humans, plants, or other organisms.
For example, B. cereus sometimes causes spoilage in canned foods and food poisoning of short duration.
Bacillus is a genus of Gram-positive, rod-shaped bacteria, a member of the phylum Bacillota, with 266 named species.
The term is also used to describe the shape of certain bacteria; and the plural Bacilli is the name of the class of bacteria to which this genus belongs.
The vast majority of the bacillus bacteria are nonpathogenic, environmental organisms found in soil, air, dust, and debris.
These organisms typically dominate indoor air in occupied buildings, are abundant in dust and on surfaces, and are common components of the microflora of cleanrooms.
Bacillus subtilis can also be found in the human body, mostly on the skin or in the intestinal tract.
However it is very rare for this bacterium to colonize on the human body.
Along with enzymes, Bacillus subtilis also produces a toxin called subtilisin.
The clinical spectrum of infections caused by Bacillus spp. include self limited food poisoning, localized infections related to trauma (e.g. ocular infections), deep seated soft tissue infections, and systemic infections (e.g. meningitis, endocarditis, osteomyelitis, and bacteremia).
Although anthrax remains the best-known Bacillus disease, in recent years other Bacillus species have been increasingly implicated in a wide range of infections including abscesses, bacteremia/septicemia, wound and burn infections, ear infections, endocarditis, meningitis, ophthalmitis, osteomyelitis, peritonitis.
Bacillus cereus is a foodborne pathogen that can produce toxins, causing two types of gastrointestinal illness: the emetic (vomiting) syndrome and the diarrhoeal syndrome.
When the emetic toxin (cereulide) is produced in the food, vomiting occurs after ingestion of the contaminated food.
The consumption of vegetative cells and spores of Bacillus spp. by human beings is frequent through fermented foods and raw vegetables.
A diverse range of Bacillus species are found to be associated to the natural fermentation of soy, locust been, maize, rice and many more substrates.
Escherichia coli (E. coli) is a gram-negative bacillus known to be a part of normal intestinal flora but can also be the cause of intestinal and extraintestinal illness in humans.