Klebsiella bacteria like to live in our noses, throats, intestinal tracts or on our skin. Even though our bodies have defence armies to protect us from intruding bacteria, Klebsiella bacteria hide from it with its invisibility cloak. This cloak is a sugar-water layer surrounding the whole bacterium to hide the bacterial cell wall.
Unfortunately, some Klebsiella bacteria can indeed make us sick and cause nasty infections. Their invisibility cloaks protect them from our immune defence players so that our immune players cannot recognise and fight the bacterial pathogens.
When bacteria enter the human body, they are welcomed by our immune system that is ready to fight them off. However, some bacteria can put on invisibility cloaks that help them hide from the immune system. Thanks to this sugar coat – the so-called bacterial capsule – bacteria can sneak into our bodies, infect us and make us sick.
