Some time ago a mother of a child who was down with another of his usual throat infections asked me if we could not once and for all eliminate germs from the world. Microbes are and have been the cause of many awful epidemics around the world. Smallpox, the Plague (about the year 1400, it wiped away about 75% of the European population), cholera (about 500 die every day), AIDS (4000 die every day), Spanish influenza (more casualties than in the two world wars), malaria (3000 die a day) polio, and lots of other diseases (encephalitis, dengue, pneumonia, hepatitis A, B, C etc.). So, germs must be our enemies. Oil is one of our principal sources of energy and bacteria played a crucial role in its formation around 5 billion years ago. No oil and none of the development of the last 200 years (industry, technology, cities etc.) would have occurred. Many antibiotics as well as vaccines are produced exploiting microbes. Microbes populate our intestine where they form what is called the intestinal flora which we now know is crucial to our survival. It is possible that microbes can be taught to eat plastic which pollutes earth and sea. Without microbes, goodbye to wine, cheese and bread. Microbes have written the history of mankind and without them we would not survive, but sometimes they take advantage of our hospitality and so we better wash our hands and brush our teeth frequently, avoid overcrowded places and eat well cooked food.