The number of bacteria living within the body of the average healthy adult human are estimated to outnumber human cells 10 to 1. Changes in these microbial communities may be responsible for digestive disorders, skin diseases, gum disease and even obesity. Despite their vital imporance in human health and disease, these communities residing within us remain largely unstudied and a concerted research effort needs to be made to better understand them.
“This could be the basis of a whole new way of looking at disease. In order to understand how changes in normal bacterial populations affect or are affected by disease we first have to establish what normal is or if normal even exists.”
It won’t change how I look at politicians – at all.
It’s time to bond, with your intestinal fauna.
I bow down to our microbial overlords.
As long as Plankton (SBSP) doesn’t inhabit my body…
J/P=?
This is widely known
It always amazes me these sqamous princesses
If they only what was crawling around on their skin
Dont worry – the bacteria won’t harm you or carry you away
Indeed they are beneficial
It won’t change how I look at politicians – at all.
Really? I would think it would improve the way we view 10 out of every 11 cells of every politician. There’s nothing wrong with most bacteria.
I didn’t realize it was x10 though. That makes me stop and wonder. Some medical treatments give a general anti-biotic that supposedly kill off “all” the bacteria in the body to get at the illness. With this info, that doesn’t seem possible?
Also always fascinating is how many structures in the human body are actually originally some foreign entity which have been captured by the human host. I’m thinking mitochondria as only one of many examples but could easily have that wrong.
Awesome.
These bacteria are the true “masters”.
We are just the cows that they raise to feed their flagellumy offspring.
“Some medical treatments give a general anti-biotic that supposedly kill off “all” the bacteria in the body to get at the illness.”
Stop it with the genocide Bobbo! Your gonna make them really mad.
So when a Comic says: “Good evening, Ladies and Germs”, he has hit the nail on the head !!!
BTW, for those who are surprised by the magnitude in our own bodies, it may also surprise you to know that more than 50% of the biomass of the planet is bacteria. More than all the trees, all the elephants, all the whales, all the multi-acre fungi, etc.
Does this make a “microbial defense” valid in court?
Does anyone know what beneficial roles these bacteria play in the human body?
I know they help in digesting foods, extracting certain vitamins and just learned they help protect the skin in some non-specified way.
I’ll go google and report back but this is rather fascinating.
Interesting how often wikipedia comes up first in a general google search. Very quick over view here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_flora
and indeed it is almost all gut bacteria and when it is found else it is doing damage. So–kill all the bacteria to kill the disease and give special diet supplements until the good bacteria are reestablished. Makes sense to me.
“Does anyone know what beneficial roles these bacteria play in the human body?”
^^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_flora
#14–HMeyers–thats worrying. I’ve heard that great minds like great trains run on the same tracks?
Thanks for the effort—interesting isn’t it?
Interesting. You know, it’s weird, but the tremendous strides made by modern science and medicine can sometimes be the biggest obstacles to further knowledge. I have a feeling that we actually know about one tenth as much as we think we know.
I predict major surprises are in store for these researchers, including new causes for diseases which had been thought to be well-understood and even new diseases previously unrecognized.
I hope environmental effects will also be studied so thoroughly — maybe some progress will eventually be made solving the puzzle of hair and clothing styles of the ’70s and ’80s!
Just saw a great show “Dinosaurs, Return to Life.” Seems we are within 50 years of producing live dinosaurs. Show was about taking birds and triggering their dormant dna to grow claws, teeth, muscles and so forth.
Seems basically the genes to grow a vertebrate animal are all real similar with the main difference being which few turn on and when during gestation. Chickens grow a long 12-14 vertebrae tail during utero but it gets converted to the 4-5 vertebrae of the modern chicken. Same with claws to wings, teeth to bills and so forth. These genes can be triggered by introducing known proteins at the right time by using viruses to infect the embryos.
Fascinating stuff. Kurzweil says knowledge is doubling every 8 years and the time for doubling is decreasing. He wants to live forever. Interesting–I bet he just misses it.
We even have them INSIDE EACH AND EVERY CELL IN OUR BODIES: MITOCHONDRIA !!!
LINK:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitochondrion
There is NO ESCAPE, YOU HAVE ALREADY BEEN ASSIMILATED !!! (Perhaps the “intelligent humans” are just HOSTS DESIGNED BY THE GERMS SO THEY CAN GET AROUND FASTER !!!)
6,
That’s why people get so ill from such treatments. The body is thrown off-balance.
18,
That’s the best proof evolution does occur. Did you know mitochondria DNA is unique to itself, and a child doesn’t even get any from their father? True proof it was once a symbiote.
#12 – bobbo,
My understanding, and I don’t have any links at the moment nor care to search for any right now, is that the vast majority of the bacteria in and around us are neither helpful nor harmful. They just do their own thing.
So, with regard to killing them, why? I’d say live and let live. They form the basis of the food chain and the bulk of life on the planet. We’re the exception.
If you have an active infection that is causing damage, by all means, fight it.
The rest of the time, I avoid antibiotics, including antibiotic soaps and lotions and cleaners and such.
Hey, did you know that children who grow up in rural areas in close contact with dirt, farm animals, and the like, take fewer sick days than children that grow up in urban or suburban areas with clorox wipes and the rest?
It helps to exercise our immune systems.